Sept 24, 2018
G2G MOU Ethical Recruitment (ER)
Before 2016, migrant workers in Thailand came as both legal and illegal. They were subjected to exploitation by job brokers and even slave traders. The AP report in 2015 on slavery labour on Thai owned fishing vessels was the last straw that finally broke the camel's back. That year, Thailand got a yellow card for IUU from EU and Tier 3 for human rights abuses from USA.
In 2017, The Thai Government acted decisively and introduced G2G MOU ER hiring in collaboration with neighbouring countries which have provided migrant workers. This measure has allowed Thai Companies to import workers from them through G2G MOU ER arrangements supervised closely by international NGOs to assure workers' right.
Ethical Recruitment (ER) is labour recruitment whereby the costs of recruitment are not borne by work seekers, but instead are borne by employers. This includes those fees charged by employment agencies and brokers. Important definitions in ER are as follows:
1. Legal Compliance: Respecting all relevant laws,
2. Ethical and professional conduct towards workers and each other,
3. Free-of-charge services to workers,
4. Transparent ethical terms of engagement,
5. Transparent wages, deductions, and benefits,
6. Healthy, safe, exploitation-free working and living conditions,
7. Access to remedy and credible grievance mechanisms.
These definitions are in line with the Code of Conduct for the Employer Confederation, and ILO Convention No. 181 on Private Recruitment Agencies.
Kingfisher/Seapac started G2G MOU ER hiring in 2017 and we enlisted the help of an NGO "Workers Voices" to supervise hiring activities and set up anonymous grievances reporting for all workers. We have conducted annual recruitment assessment since 2017 and have just completed the latest one in 2018 with the collaboration of the aforementioned NGO. 2018 results have shown improvement from 2017 levels. The assessment was based on the above seven (7) definitions.
Worker Satisfactory Survey
We also conducted, through the NGO, Worker Satisfaction Surveys. The Surveys were conducted on 1444 workers, a representative sampling of both Thai and migrant workers in 2 main factories and the average score was in the mid 80% percentile in satisfaction. We were told the average scores in other Thai companies were reportedly below 70%.
The following pictures showed the Questionnaire the survey was based on, the survey sessions and the results of the 2 factories.
