Phuket migrant worker measures focus on employer compliance and insurance

Phuket authorities have focused on employer compliance and migrant worker insurance in two initiatives announced on 19 August, amid calls for stricter action against illegal employment.

The Phuket Provincial Office, through PR Phuket, reported that Phuket Vice Governor Romdon Hayiawae opened a seminar at The Pago Design Hotel in Ratsada under a project on foreign labour laws and management. The seminar was intended to educate employers about their legal obligations concerning foreign workers.

A separate meeting discussed bringing migrant workers into Thailand’s health insurance and social security systems. The announcements focused primarily on requirements already established under Thai law.

The initiatives followed a call by Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation President Rewat Areerob for government action over the effect of migrant workers on public healthcare and other public services. Rewat called for stricter enforcement against migrant workers employed illegally or in occupations reserved for Thai citizens, as well as health insurance coverage for their dependants and children.

Phuket has 11,070 employers and establishments employing migrant workers and 97,919 authorised migrant workers. Of those workers, 96,075 are from Myanmar, 1,230 from Laos, 183 from Cambodia and 431 from Vietnam.