08/10/2015

Thai Union Joins Hands with MWRN to Promote Migrant Worker Rights in Thai Facilities

Thai Union is initiating a long-term labor empowerment program to ensure that migrant employees in Thai Union facilities across Thailand receive formal training on applicable Thai labor and social welfare regulations and also to promote adherence to these standards.

The aim is to have migrant workers in Thai Union facilities in the kingdom be properly educated on labor and social welfare rights according to Thai law by the end of 2016 and that all these facilities fully comply with these standards.

Dr. Darian McBain, Group Director of Sustainable Development at Thai Union, said, “our Corporate Vision is to be the world’s most trusted seafood leader, and to achieve that we have to be a pro-active leader of change in the seafood industry. Our customers and consumers worldwide demand sustainable products produced with good labor practices. We employ migrant workers in our Thai factories and treat them to the same high standards of labor rights and welfare as their Thai counterparts. To educate our migrant employees, overcoming language and cultural issues as well as informing them of their rights under Thai law is essential, which is why we have partnered with Migrant Worker Rights Network or MWRN so as to draw upon their deep expertise in migrant worker labor issues.

This is just one of our many ongoing collaborations with the government, the private sector and stakeholders as we continue in our commitment to doing business in a transparent, responsible and accountable manner. We believe this is better for our business and certainly better for the many lives that are part of that business.”

The first of many planned migrant workers’ rights workshops presented in a collaboration between Thai Union and MWRN was held on 26 September 2015 and was led by Mr. U Sein Htay, MWRN President, and attended by a 60-strong group of employees at one of the Thai Union factories in Samut Sakhon province.

Mr. Andy Hall, International Affairs Advisor to the MWRN, commented, “MWRN has been regularly invited to audit Thai Union facilities and has also extensively researched labor conditions in these workplaces by interviewing Thai Union’s migrant employees. We are now actively working together with Thai Union to develop a more comprehensive partnership on these issues for the future, particularly focusing on worker rights education and effective auditing and enforcement of Thai Union’s core labor standards.”