Most Cambodian workers opt to stay in Thailand despite Hun Sen's call

Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said today that most Cambodian migrant workers have chosen to stay on in Thailand, in defiance of a call by Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen for them to return to Cambodia to avoid the risk of being expelled from Thailand.

He reiterated that the Thai government has no intention of expelling Cambodian worker adding, however, that the government will not stand in the way of any who wants to return home.

Currently, there are approximately 500,000 Cambodian manual labourers in Thailand, but only 400,000 of them are properly documented. Of the remaining 100,000, about 20,000 are seasonal workers, who come to Thailand to pick fruit.

For those whose passports have expired and want to stay on to work, Pipat said the Employment Department will help them to arrange for their passports to be extended for another year, as he offered an assurance to Thai businesses that they should not to be worried that there will be a shortage of labour, despite the tense border situation with Cambodia.

Even if the border with Cambodia were to be completely closed, as threatened by Cambodia, the labour minister said that there will be no labour shortage, adding that most seasonal workers, such as fruit pickers, have returned to Cambodia, because the sugarcane harvest season is already over and the new season won’t begin until the end of the year.

He also said that the Labour Ministry has no plan to bring more migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos or Vietnam into the country to replace Cambodian workers, if they choose to return home.

He disclosed that there are about 1.8 million Burmese workers, under the Memorandum of Understanding on labour employment, waiting for renewals of their work permits and another million are waiting for identification checks.

Phiphat also asked how Cambodia could cope with the return of most Cambodian workers from Thailand and whether there would be sufficient job opportunities for them.