Myanmar junta orders its workers to pay it part of their Thai wages

Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar workers in Thailand have to hand over part of their wages to the junta ruling their country or risk losing their jobs under a new rule introduced by the military aimed at collecting foreign exchange and perpetuating army rule.

Myanmar’s economy has been in crisis since the military overthrew an elected government in early 2021, facing significant economic challenges as conflict, macroeconomic instability and dislocation constrained production. The kyat currency has plunged from about 1,350 to the dollar before the coup to about 4,500 to the dollar now, fueling inflation.

The junta, battling a growing insurgency and widespread opposition to its rule, has responded with various measures including cracking down on gold and rice traders to stop them putting up their prices and on the property sector to prevent people buying flats abroad. 

In another effort to boost foreign reserves, the junta announced late last year that Myanmar nationals living and working in Thailand were required to pay Myanmar income tax, and it also began pressuring migrant workers to send their salaries home.

Now it is seeking more. In a directive that came into effect on Aug. 1, the junta said that the estimated 250,000 migrant workers in Thailand under a labor scheme agreed by the two governments must pay a quarter of their salary, or at least 6,000 baht (US$170), through junta-owned banks and agencies, over the three months before they apply to renew paperwork allowing them to stay in Thailand.

Workers must renew the permit after four years in Thailand at offices in the Myanmar towns of either Myawaddy or Kawthaung on the Thai border. 

The Myanmar Ministry of Labor said in a notice that workers must show proof of the transfers via approved banks, which will only change their Thai currency into Myanmar kyat at an artificially low rate.

The Myanmar embassy did not respond to a request from Radio Free Asa for comment. 

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‘Unacceptable’

A labor rights organization based in the Thai town of Samut Sakhon, a hub for migrants working in Thailand’s fishing industry, said it has been inundated with phone calls from angry workers asking about the new order.

“The forced requirement to transfer money is unacceptable to the workers,” said a spokesperson for the Labour Rights Foundation, Aung Kyaw. “If they don’t comply, they will become illegal workers, unable to stay in Thailand.”

Aung Kyaw said his group had written to the Thai government asking it to allow workers to stay even if they have not complied with the junta’s directive. Myanmar’s shadow, pro-democracy National Unity Government recently made a similar request.

Many of the Myanmar workers in Thailand fled a military crackdown on protests that erupted after the 2021 coup, and more recently from the draft following the imposition of a conscription law early this year.

Aung Kyaw said many people could not go home given the fate they could face there, adding that he hoped Thailand could let workers stay on.

“If we negotiate with the Thai government to secure employment in Thailand with a single work permit issued by them, it will greatly ease the situation for the millions of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand,” he said. 

There are an estimated two million Myanmar workers in Thailand, or about 75% of Thailand’s total migrant labor force.

Translation by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Taejun Kang.