BBC report on Thais’ Israel plight stirs fuss

The Thai government must review the labour agreement between Thailand and Israel after a recent news report surfaced of Thai workers facing abuse and exploitation, according to Samarn Laodamrongchai, a researcher at Chulalongkorn University’s East Asian Studies Institute.

“We want to see the Thai government re-evaluate the policy [to send Thai workers to work in Israel] until there is a clear solution to this problem,” Mr Samarn told the Bangkok Post in a phone interview.

Mr Samarn claimed Thai workers in Israel have been subjected to exploitation for a long time. He said the government knew about the problem, yet did nothing to resolve it.

He said local labour advocacy groups in Thailand had made the same request in 2015, following reports of labour exploitation and the deaths of 72 Thai workers in Israel between 2012-2014.

The issue flared up again last week, following a news report by BBC News about the plight of Thai nationals living and working on Israeli farms.

According to BBC Thai’s report, “Israel’s forgotten Thai workers,” tens of thousands of Thai labourers working in Israel have been subjected to exploitation while working on fruit farms and picking produce to supply supermarket chains worldwide.

In the report, Thai labourers were said to be overworked and underpaid while working in unsafe conditions and squalid workplaces.

Israeli employers interviewed by the BBC denied the allegations, saying they complied with labour laws.

The two countries signed the ThailandIsrael Cooperation on the Placement of Workers (TIC) programme agreement in 2012 to send Thai workers to Israeli farms.

Thai workers are entitled to work for five years, with a 47,000-baht monthly salary. There are currently 24,746 Thai nationals in Israel, working under the scheme.

Labour Minister Pol Gen Adul Sangsingkeo t old media yesterday t he Thai Embassy in Israel has closely monitored labour welfare.

The Royal Thai Embassy, he said, has helped Thai workers reclaim over 47 million baht in compensation from their Israeli employers.

Gen Adul said the Public Health Ministry will soon send a Thai medical team to provide health checks and survey workplaces there.

Thai medical teams have been sent to Israel three times a year since the start of the programme, said Mr Adul, adding that he plans to fly to Israel to visit Thai workers in person there.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday the Thai Embassy in Israel is looking into the issue, adding the Labour Ministry is examining the legal compliance of both employers and Thai workers.

A survey by Human Rights Watch in 2014, which interviewed 173 Thai workers in 10 farming communities across Israel, also highlights the poor treatment of Thai labourers.

The survey found that most of the interviewed workers were paid less than the legal minimum wage, forced to work longer than the legal limit, exposed to unsafe working conditions such as pesticides without adequate protection, and were unable to gain access to medical care.