Jaloon Htaw, additional reporting by Om Soe : The Thai government’s upcoming domestic worker reforms are the latest in a series of attempts to regulate domestic worker employment, education, and protection in the country.
An August 23rd article by the Bangkok Post published news of the Thai Labor Department’s processing of a draft of a regulation on domestic worker protection; according to the article, medical, educational, salary, and day leave rights will be covered. The draft is reportedly expected to be finished in late September and will be up for cabinet approval later this year.
While the Burmese domestic workers interviewed by IMNA were pleased to hear that upcoming reforms were expected to secure their rights, many required an explanation of what a “human right” actually entailed, or were surprised to learn that they were entitled to them.
“We didn’t know that we have rights. Now we have to work for the whole day. If we get our own rights, it will be very good,” said Ma Thwe, a Burmese domestic worker in Bangkok, told IMNA.
Previous attempts at educating domestic workers about their rights had not reached the women IMNA interviewed. A guide for domestic workers released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2009, titled “Domestic Work- Decent Work”, outlined the rights domestic workers in Thailand are technically entitled to in a variety of languages, and the methods for reporting abusive employers to Thai authorities; despite the work of the ILO and similar organizations, the workers IMNA spoke with indicated that they had all felt powerless in abusive workplace situations.
A female Mon domestic worker currently employed in Bangkok informed IMNA that domestic workers in Thailand frequently must stay in the homes where they are are work and live for 24 hours a day; she told IMNA that domestic employees are frequently overworked, and often endure verbal or physical abuse from their employers.
“I have to work from 5 am to 8 pm. Now I have a little bit of free time, because my employer’s baby is grown up. When she was young I also had to wake up at night time. My employer is a member of the [Thai] government staff and they do not treat me poorly. I think I am lucky. But some employers are so bad. Their maids don’t get a chance to leave the homes, and they also force them [to work too hard] and treat them badly. My friend was [abused] by her employer,” she told IMNA.
This woman’s friend is a Burmese domestic worker who recently ran away from an abusive employer, after being beaten, underpaid, and confined to the home of her employer. She chose to flee, unaware of the rights technically afforded to her under Thai laws, which entitled her to call upon police authorities for help.
“I only got 3000 Baht a month for my salary. They always ordered me to do lots of jobs in the home. If I did [the job] wrong, they hit my back. So I couldn’t stay [with that job] for a long time and I ran away” said she explained.
According to the Augusts 23rd Bangkok Post article, roughly 150,000 thousand “foreign domestics” work in Thailand. Domestic work, unlike migrant labor rights, is largely unregulated in Thailand, despite various attempts by migrant rights organizations, including the ILO. Representatives from the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) in Thailand attributed to the unique hours and circumstances of domestic work.
Nai Suu Rat from the LPN in Thailand told IMNA that he doubts that Thai Labor Ministry’s reforms will occur anytime soon, due to the confusing differences between domestic work and factory work.
“Migrant workers from factories have to work 8 hours a day. If they work overtime, they will get more of a salary. But [overtime] is not specified for domestic workers. Maid workers can take a rest [ a break] when they are working, unlike the migrant workers from factories. So, the Labor Minister will take a long time to make a draft.”
