Finland to help migrant workers

FINNWATCH and the Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) have embarked on a three-year project to boost migrant workers’ bargaining power.

“Migrants often lack accessible channels to voice complaints and have limited ability and confidence to negotiate better working terms. MWRN is acting to change this in Thailand” Sein Htay, president of MWRN, said yesterday.

The aim is to improve working conditions and the general quality of life of migrant workers in Thailand, they said in a statement.

The project is financed by the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

More than 2 million jobseekers have poured into the country, mainly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. Other activities are researching migrant work conditions in local companies exporting to Europe, training workers on rights awareness, setting up a legal help |desk, strengthening MWRN’s organisational capacity, recruiting fee-paying members and establishing a MWRN office in the southern province of Songkhla in the middle of the year.

“Finnwatch wants to support and strengthen a representative voice for migrant workers in Thailand,” said Sonja Vartiala, executive director of Finnwatch.

“This project will empower migrant workers by enhancing |the capacity and strength of MWRN as the migrant workers’ established grassroots movement in Thailand.”

The partners will help create space for negotiations between companies and their migrant employees with support from European media and corporate social responsibility advocates.

Source The Nation:
http://world.einnews.com/article/254272095/2PhhhYPQ_J8pAX9q

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