The processed chicken industry and labour authorities are gearing up for probes into labour abuse claims after fresh research findings indicate migrant workers processing Thai chicken for Europe face widespread abuse by their employers.
It is the second sector to be hit by claims of mistreatment of workers after Swiss food giant Nestle released a report early this week exposing the use of forced labour in the Thai fishing industry.
According to a study jointly conducted by Swedwatch and Finnwatch, factory workers from Cambodia and Myanmar are exploited by brokers and employers who withhold their passports and charge excessive recruitment fees.
Many workers have reported being verbally and physically abused by supervisors, who hide malpractice during official audits, according to the findings which also say the problem is in part because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers' conditions.
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Kukrit Arepagorn, manager of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, has acknowledged the findings, saying the association will look into the claims.
However, Mr Kukrit has been on the defensive, noting that employment of Thai and migrant workers in the processed chicken industry is in line with Thai labour laws.
He also pointed out the employment of migrant workers through recruitment agencies will be regulated under a memorandum of understanding. Moreover, customers in the European Union (EU) are invited to join facility inspections and observe working conditions, he said.
Mr Kukrit said about 650,000 tonnes of processed chicken are estimated to be exported this year, which is a 10% increase from 2014. The export value is estimated at 85 billion baht.
Japan is the country's biggest market, accounting for 47% of the exports, he said. The EU market accounts for 40%. This latest report on the poultry sector is likely to increase pressure on the government.
Claims of labour abuses in Thailand's seafood sector led the US State Department to downgrade the country in 2014 in its Trafficking in Persons report, an annual ranking of nations on their efforts to combat human trafficking.
The EU has threatened to ban Thai seafood imports if Thailand fails to adopt adequate measures against slave labour and illegal fishing. A decision is expected to be made next month.
Labour permanent secretary ML Puntarik Samiti said labour officials will investigate the accusations and take action to make sure that both Thai and migrant workers are protected.
She said employers are required to do their part in complying with labour laws and standard practices or they will face a backlash from their business partners.
"But I understand the exporters take the issue seriously in part due to a code of conduct which is very important or they can lose customers," she said.
ML Puntarik also said officials have tried to streamline migrant worker registration and help reduce their burden.
"I'll send the relevant officials to make inspections and see to it that workers are protected in terms of pay and working conditions. It's the employer's job to take care of their employees," she said.
Among the factories in which the research was conducted, a total of 48 workers from Cambodia and Myanmar were interviewed for the report at a pair of CP Foods Plc factories in Saraburi province and Min Buri district of Bangkok.
Their complaints included recruitment fees that were "extortionately" high, putting them into a debt-bondage situation; and intimidation, poor working conditions and bad behaviour by translators.
In a statement issued by CP Foods Thursday, the company said it is aware of the recent Finnwatch-Swedwatch report on the treatment of foreign labour in the Thai chicken industry.
Ensuring the company's labour policies protect the rights of foreign workers and meet both Thai and international standards is a priority for the company, it said.
During 2014, the company piloted a new set of policies and guidelines, and following those trials, it launched a new foreign labour hiring policy in April 2015.
"We are confident the policies we now have in place regarding the hiring and treatment of foreign workers meet, and in many respects exceed, domestic and international standards," the statement said.
At a processing plant run for Centaco Group/Sky Food Co, 14 Myanmar migrant workers were quizzed, all of whom work as subcontractors from a recruitment firm.
They too complained of "extortionate" recruitment fees, lack of health-insurance documentation, being forced to pay a deposit on their first 10 days of wages, child labour, withheld overtime, violence inflicted by supervisors, insufficient annual leave, salary cuts, substandard wages, management cover-ups, deportation of pregnant workers, forced overtime, and an inactive welfare committee.
In its emailed response, the company denied charging recruitment fees, requiring salary deposits, cutting salaries, or firing and deporting pregnant workers.
It blamed the contractor for not supplying social security and health insurance cards and said it pays more than the legal minimum wage.
It also said it was unaware of any child labour and promised to monitor annual leave.
