In Thai shrimp industry, child labor and rights abuses persist
Saturday 2 January 2010SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand — It is 7:30 p.m., and an excited chatter fills the room as Nampeung, 11, and her friends get their work checked before clearing their desks and heading home.
But this is no scene from the end of a school day.
Nampeung is from Myanmar and an ethnic Mon girl who has been working in a seafood factory in central Thailand for nearly three years.
The desks are the metal tables where she spends six days a week shelling shrimp, and her work is measured by the kilogram.
Of the 200 people working in a barnlike factory during an unannounced visit by Reuters, nearly half appeared to be in their early teens or younger - clear evidence of child labor in an industry worth $2 billion a year in exports.
Half of Thailand's exported shrimp goes to the United States, where it ends up on the shelves of retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores and Costco, according to Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association. Japan and Europe each account for 20 percent.
Even though she can only dream of going to school, Nampeung is one of the lucky ones. She makes as much as 300 baht, or $9, a day - more than the province's minimum wage - and sees nothing wrong with children her age working.
"The old people are so slow," she said with a broad smile, sitting demurely on the floor of the concrete hut next to the factory, which she shares with her mother, father and three siblings.
Other factories in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon, 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, west of Bangkok, where 40 percent of all shrimp are processed, do not have such a contented work force.
A police raid on a factory called Ranya Paew in September revealed conditions that were little short of medieval.
Around 800 men, women and children from Myanmar were imprisoned behind walls 5 meters, or 16 feet, high and topped with razor wire in a compound patrolled by armed guards.
The rescued workers told human rights monitors that they had to work 18 hours or more a day and were paid 400 baht a month, out of which they had to buy food - mainly rancid pork - from the factory's owner.
Those who asked for a break had a metal rod shoved up their nostrils. Three women who asked to leave were paraded in front of the other workers, stripped naked and had their heads shaved.
The Labor Rights Promotion Network, a nongovernmental organization that estimates there are 200,000 Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sakhon - of whom only 70,000 are legally registered - says that the Ranya Paew case is the worst it has seen.
But this, the group says, is just the tip of a human trafficking iceberg of factories fed by people-smuggling rings and labor brokers that have the complicity, if not active involvement, of government officials and the provincial police.
"For many migrants, work in Samut Sakhon is the chance for a better life, but for too many it leads to abuse," said Sompong Srakaew, president of the nongovernment organization.
"Unscrupulous employers and brokers conspire to ensure migrant workers remain vulnerable to exploitation. This is only possible with the complicity of elements within the law enforcement authorities."
Wal-Mart and Costco said that none of their shrimp had ever come from Ranya Paew and that strict ethical guidelines for suppliers, as well as audits of processing units in Thailand, ensured that they complied with food standards and labor regulations.
One shipment from Ranya Paew a few years ago, however, did end up in the United States, according to a Western diplomat who has followed the case closely.
Poj, the president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, denied that children or trafficked people worked in the industry, saying factories were monitored carefully.
"There are no more illegal workers in the Thai food industry, because the government registers all the workers properly," he said. "We never use child labor."
But even Thailand's biggest agro-industrial company, Charoen Pokphand Foods, which produces its own shrimp from pond to package, is not untouched by allegations of trafficked labor.
The company sells a range of shrimp products to the United States and Europe, including the "Thai Torpedo" and "Bangkok Firecracker."
According to the Labor Rights Promotion Network, when the police and immigration officials raided a Charoen Pokphand factory in Samut Sakhon on April 5 and fired shots into the air, more than 100 Burmese migrants in the compound tried to escape by swimming a canal.
Six workers who could not swim are thought to have drowned, the Labor Rights Promotion Network said, and the police rounded up and deported 90 others to Myanmar for being illegal migrants.
Narong Kruakrai, the general manager of the plant, described the raid as a "regular visit" by the immigration police and said the factory never hired illegal workers.
The labor rights group said the workers appeared to have been employed by a third-party broker.
With smaller shrimp companies, overseas buyers have an even harder time conducting their own background checks, as much of the processing is outsourced to small operators.
As a result, foreign companies rely more on the Thai Labor Ministry, which is responsible for ensuring that factories do not use illegal or child workers. But the ministry is short on staff, the Western diplomat said.
"The Thai Ministry of Labor lacks the proper resources to conduct rigorous inspections of these factories," he said.
Despite the discovery of abuses at Ranya Paew, the police in Samut Sakhon have allowed the plant to remain open. In the meantime, about 200 Burmese men were deported as illegal immigrants, and more than 60 women and children are in a Bangkok center for victims of trafficking.
read more “In Thai shrimp industry, child labor and rights abuses persist”
But this is no scene from the end of a school day.
Nampeung is from Myanmar and an ethnic Mon girl who has been working in a seafood factory in central Thailand for nearly three years.
The desks are the metal tables where she spends six days a week shelling shrimp, and her work is measured by the kilogram.
Of the 200 people working in a barnlike factory during an unannounced visit by Reuters, nearly half appeared to be in their early teens or younger - clear evidence of child labor in an industry worth $2 billion a year in exports.
Half of Thailand's exported shrimp goes to the United States, where it ends up on the shelves of retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores and Costco, according to Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association. Japan and Europe each account for 20 percent.
Even though she can only dream of going to school, Nampeung is one of the lucky ones. She makes as much as 300 baht, or $9, a day - more than the province's minimum wage - and sees nothing wrong with children her age working.
"The old people are so slow," she said with a broad smile, sitting demurely on the floor of the concrete hut next to the factory, which she shares with her mother, father and three siblings.
Other factories in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon, 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, west of Bangkok, where 40 percent of all shrimp are processed, do not have such a contented work force.
A police raid on a factory called Ranya Paew in September revealed conditions that were little short of medieval.
Around 800 men, women and children from Myanmar were imprisoned behind walls 5 meters, or 16 feet, high and topped with razor wire in a compound patrolled by armed guards.
The rescued workers told human rights monitors that they had to work 18 hours or more a day and were paid 400 baht a month, out of which they had to buy food - mainly rancid pork - from the factory's owner.
Those who asked for a break had a metal rod shoved up their nostrils. Three women who asked to leave were paraded in front of the other workers, stripped naked and had their heads shaved.
The Labor Rights Promotion Network, a nongovernmental organization that estimates there are 200,000 Burmese migrant workers in Samut Sakhon - of whom only 70,000 are legally registered - says that the Ranya Paew case is the worst it has seen.
But this, the group says, is just the tip of a human trafficking iceberg of factories fed by people-smuggling rings and labor brokers that have the complicity, if not active involvement, of government officials and the provincial police.
"For many migrants, work in Samut Sakhon is the chance for a better life, but for too many it leads to abuse," said Sompong Srakaew, president of the nongovernment organization.
"Unscrupulous employers and brokers conspire to ensure migrant workers remain vulnerable to exploitation. This is only possible with the complicity of elements within the law enforcement authorities."
Wal-Mart and Costco said that none of their shrimp had ever come from Ranya Paew and that strict ethical guidelines for suppliers, as well as audits of processing units in Thailand, ensured that they complied with food standards and labor regulations.
One shipment from Ranya Paew a few years ago, however, did end up in the United States, according to a Western diplomat who has followed the case closely.
Poj, the president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, denied that children or trafficked people worked in the industry, saying factories were monitored carefully.
"There are no more illegal workers in the Thai food industry, because the government registers all the workers properly," he said. "We never use child labor."
But even Thailand's biggest agro-industrial company, Charoen Pokphand Foods, which produces its own shrimp from pond to package, is not untouched by allegations of trafficked labor.
The company sells a range of shrimp products to the United States and Europe, including the "Thai Torpedo" and "Bangkok Firecracker."
According to the Labor Rights Promotion Network, when the police and immigration officials raided a Charoen Pokphand factory in Samut Sakhon on April 5 and fired shots into the air, more than 100 Burmese migrants in the compound tried to escape by swimming a canal.
Six workers who could not swim are thought to have drowned, the Labor Rights Promotion Network said, and the police rounded up and deported 90 others to Myanmar for being illegal migrants.
Narong Kruakrai, the general manager of the plant, described the raid as a "regular visit" by the immigration police and said the factory never hired illegal workers.
The labor rights group said the workers appeared to have been employed by a third-party broker.
With smaller shrimp companies, overseas buyers have an even harder time conducting their own background checks, as much of the processing is outsourced to small operators.
As a result, foreign companies rely more on the Thai Labor Ministry, which is responsible for ensuring that factories do not use illegal or child workers. But the ministry is short on staff, the Western diplomat said.
"The Thai Ministry of Labor lacks the proper resources to conduct rigorous inspections of these factories," he said.
Despite the discovery of abuses at Ranya Paew, the police in Samut Sakhon have allowed the plant to remain open. In the meantime, about 200 Burmese men were deported as illegal immigrants, and more than 60 women and children are in a Bangkok center for victims of trafficking.
Family-run businesses threatened by closure
Friday 1 January 2010Friday, 01 January 2010 15:03 Khuon Leakhana and Ou Mom
AROUND 190 families living in Daun Penh district have expressed concerns over the city’s plans to force the closure of small-scale businesses in the area.
According to an announcement issued by district authorities on November 26, the families living in Bloc 31 Village in Street 19 will not be able to run small businesses any longer in order to maintain security in the district. If any businesses refuse to comply, the order states, authorities have the power to confiscate their properties.
The village is home to many businesses, including a beauty salon, florist and clothing stall. Business owner Sam Ang, 40, said Thursday that the city’s announcement worried him.
“We don’t know when they will come to confiscate our property, because we are still selling like we normally do,” he said.
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said she had lived in the village since 1980 and operated a business out of her home, so it would be “impossible” to evict her.
She said she would complain to Prime Minister Hun Sen to force him to intervene in the matter.
Sok Pichey, 50, speculated the order might be a bid by authorities to decrease land prices in the area, but said he would not agree, “even if the authorities come to confiscate our property”.
Un Sam Ang, chief of the district’s Chaktomuk commune, confirmed that authorities wished to keep order in the area. “I know about this plan and the authorities have arranged new places for them,” he said.
read more “Family-run businesses threatened by closure”
AROUND 190 families living in Daun Penh district have expressed concerns over the city’s plans to force the closure of small-scale businesses in the area.
According to an announcement issued by district authorities on November 26, the families living in Bloc 31 Village in Street 19 will not be able to run small businesses any longer in order to maintain security in the district. If any businesses refuse to comply, the order states, authorities have the power to confiscate their properties.
The village is home to many businesses, including a beauty salon, florist and clothing stall. Business owner Sam Ang, 40, said Thursday that the city’s announcement worried him.
“We don’t know when they will come to confiscate our property, because we are still selling like we normally do,” he said.
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said she had lived in the village since 1980 and operated a business out of her home, so it would be “impossible” to evict her.
She said she would complain to Prime Minister Hun Sen to force him to intervene in the matter.
Sok Pichey, 50, speculated the order might be a bid by authorities to decrease land prices in the area, but said he would not agree, “even if the authorities come to confiscate our property”.
Un Sam Ang, chief of the district’s Chaktomuk commune, confirmed that authorities wished to keep order in the area. “I know about this plan and the authorities have arranged new places for them,” he said.
Business registration in Thailand
Thursday 31 December 2009Business Registration in up due to Thailand’s unprecedented economic growth over the years which has been attracting investors to partake in the rat race by doing business in Thailand and addressing the country’s increasing market demands while hoping to maximize the return on their investments in the process. Foreign investors are convinced to do business in Thailand because of specific reasons such as strong government support and incentives, sufficient infrastructure, skilled and a cost effective work force. Doing business in Thailand is also received by well-defined policies geared towards liberalization and free trade, social and political stability and the country’s strategic location in Asia. The same reasons why doing business in Thailand is one of the most attractive investments in the world.
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Outlined below are the steps in applying for a limited company in Thailand. Please peruse it for your information and take it as the initial guidance on how to do business in Thailand. If you want to do business in Thailand and need legal assistance in registering your company later, please don’t hesitate in contacting us. We have licensed Thai lawyers and foreign attorneys/solicitors willing to help you in our offices in Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Bangkok, Samui and Phuket. Business Registration be it a Thai partnership, a, Thai limited company or a Thai representative office are just among our inclusive legal services that we specialize in. | |
Good Agricultural Practice(GAP): Promoting shrimp farming standards in Thailand as a way to win export market share
By Jon Fernquest
To remain competitive in international export markets Thailand must continually upgrade product standards.
Two recent examples:
Upgrading shrimp standards in the future may also be necessary to win new market share in the lucrative EU shrimp market, a market that Thailand has barely penetrated:
GAP standards address many different aspects of shrimp production and marketing including "food safety, food quality control, environmental management, social responsibility and animal welfare."
EU retailers have also initiated their own set of European GAP standards known as "GLOBALGAP" (Read article).
read more “Good Agricultural Practice(GAP): Promoting shrimp farming standards in Thailand as a way to win export market share”
To remain competitive in international export markets Thailand must continually upgrade product standards. Two recent examples:
1. In 2005 Thai fruit growers suddenly lost market share in EU fruit markets due to a bacterial infection, a situation where adequate standards were lacking (Read article).
2. EU environmental laws will soon impose new standards on Thai products exported to the EU (Read article).
2. EU environmental laws will soon impose new standards on Thai products exported to the EU (Read article).
Upgrading shrimp standards in the future may also be necessary to win new market share in the lucrative EU shrimp market, a market that Thailand has barely penetrated:
"Although Thailand contributes 30 per cent to the global shrimp production, the market share of Thai shrimp in the EU is only 3 per cent...However, the EU accounts for 37 per cent of global shrimp consumption" (Source).
Good Agricultural Practice (GAP)
Today's article is about a set of local standards for Thailand's shrimp industry known as Good Agricultural Practice (GAP).GAP standards address many different aspects of shrimp production and marketing including "food safety, food quality control, environmental management, social responsibility and animal welfare."
EU retailers have also initiated their own set of European GAP standards known as "GLOBALGAP" (Read article).
How Good Is Your 401(k)?
With its vast, free database, researcher BrightScope could alter the retirement landscape as much as Morningstar changed funds
BrightScope's brother act: Ryan, Eddie, and Mike Alfred Brad Swonetz/Redux
Americans increasingly rely on their 401(k) plans for retirement, yet typically understand little about how their plans work, or how they compare with offerings at other companies. Is your 401(k) cheap or expensive? Does it offer good investments or mediocre ones? A generous match or a stingy one? And most important: Will your 401(k), and the way you take advantage of it, get you through retirement without running out of money?
BrightScope, a San Diego startup, wants to help 401(k) participants and administrators answer those questions. It has created a massive database from corporate filings with the Labor Dept., Securities & Exchange Commission, and other sources, to rate 401(k) plans. To mine all that data, it developed a quantitative model that takes into account hundreds of factors—everything from the plan's investment choices and fees to its structure, including its generosity to employees. BrightScope then runs simulations to ascertain how well each plan serves the average participant. The final result is a score of 1 to 100 called the BrightScope rating. The company also assigns each plan six component ratings (on fees, average account balance, etc.) that range from "great" to "poor," so participants and plan administrators can see where the 401(k)'s strengths and weaknesses lie.
This exercise isn't without precedent. Retirement consultants at Callan Associates, Marsh & McLennan's (MMC) Mercer unit, and Watson Wyatt (WW) have long done proprietary analyses—"benchmarking," they call it—for big 401(k) plan sponsors. What makes BrightScope unique is that its ratings are publicly available on brightscope.com, and its analysis has been boiled down to a level anyone can understand. The company now rates about 30,000 plans, double the number it had completed in October.
Mike Alfred, BrightScope's chief executive, believes people should be able to see how their 401(k)s stack up as easily as they are able to access quality rankings on their mutual funds, their cell phones, or their cars. With nearly $3 trillion socked away in 401(k)s, "it's ridiculous that no one has done anything with the data," he says. "The person who gets it right will find the business opportunity. We're just naive enough to think we'll be the ones to do it."
BrightScope's efforts come at a perfect moment. Even before the market meltdown of 2008, Americans were headed for a retirement crisis, with the average 401(k) balance hovering around $60,000. Now, legislators and regulators are debating how to reform these plans and whether there should be new rules on fees, which can seriously damage a plan's performance, or on target-date funds, investment vehicles geared to a specific retirement date that are the default offering in many 401(k)s for participants who do not choose their own investments.
How Good Is Your 401(k)?
The first big hurdle is getting the rating formula right. If BrightScope's data aren't good enough, or its model proves defective, its analysis could be useless, or could even nudge both participants and corporations to make decisions based on faulty assumptions. "It's not as simple as a good plan vs. a bad one," says Lori Lucas, who heads Callan's practice in 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans. "A mutual fund might have 100 moving pieces. But a 401(k) might have 1,000, making it difficult to come up with a single rating."
read more “How Good Is Your 401(k)?”
How Sea Island Became a Paradise Lost
SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
In 1937, Bill Jones III's grandfather, A.W. "Bill" Jones, inherited Sea Island, much of nearby St. Simons Island, and large tracts elsewhere in coastal Georgia from his cousin, Howard Coffin, who had been a top engineer for Oldsmobile and Hudson Motor Car.
Jones' resort grew slowly, subsisting mostly on cash flow from the Cloister Hotel and proceeds from occasional land sales. (Jones Sr. swore off debt, says Blaine Kelley Jr., an Atlanta developer who knew him.) Families from across the South would flock to Sea Island every summer, holing up in rental homes brokered by Sea Island Co. or in rooms at the Cloister, where the Joneses would roll in cots to accommodate the overflow. Through the mid-1980s, the Cloister's rooms didn't have TVs and the front desk didn't take credit cards. Parents dropped their kids off at the beach club, where they were watched over by some of the same people who had watched over the parents years earlier. Bill Jones Jr., an avid hunter and farmer, ran the company from 1966 to 1992; former employees say he fixed toilets himself.
read more “How Sea Island Became a Paradise Lost”
In 1937, Bill Jones III's grandfather, A.W. "Bill" Jones, inherited Sea Island, much of nearby St. Simons Island, and large tracts elsewhere in coastal Georgia from his cousin, Howard Coffin, who had been a top engineer for Oldsmobile and Hudson Motor Car.
Jones' resort grew slowly, subsisting mostly on cash flow from the Cloister Hotel and proceeds from occasional land sales. (Jones Sr. swore off debt, says Blaine Kelley Jr., an Atlanta developer who knew him.) Families from across the South would flock to Sea Island every summer, holing up in rental homes brokered by Sea Island Co. or in rooms at the Cloister, where the Joneses would roll in cots to accommodate the overflow. Through the mid-1980s, the Cloister's rooms didn't have TVs and the front desk didn't take credit cards. Parents dropped their kids off at the beach club, where they were watched over by some of the same people who had watched over the parents years earlier. Bill Jones Jr., an avid hunter and farmer, ran the company from 1966 to 1992; former employees say he fixed toilets himself.
How Sea Island Became a Paradise Lost
The resort underwent a pricey makeover with easy money, and insider lending that bordered on crony capitalism
By Peter Waldman
BW Magazine
* 10 Ways to Cut Health-Care Costs Right Now
* Taiwan's New Tech Dreams
* Innovation in a Downturn
* Executive Summary
* Byron Wien: What the Seer Sees in the Short Term
This Issue
magazine cover
January 11, 2010
In Wall Street's Pocket
* Previous Issue
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* post a comment
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* print this story
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Click here to find out more!
A.W. "Bill" Jones III had an eye for the finer things. After taking over his family's sprawling golf resort on Sea Island, Ga., in 1992, he toured America's top clubs for a sense of what the competition had to offer. Soon Sea Island Co.'s clubhouse locker rooms boasted antique wood beams, overstuffed couches, fireplaces, libraries, and mounted game from Jones' hunting trips to Africa.
read more “How Sea Island Became a Paradise Lost”
By Peter Waldman
BW Magazine
* 10 Ways to Cut Health-Care Costs Right Now
* Taiwan's New Tech Dreams
* Innovation in a Downturn
* Executive Summary
* Byron Wien: What the Seer Sees in the Short Term
This Issue
magazine cover
January 11, 2010
In Wall Street's Pocket
* Previous Issue
* Next Issue
Story Tools
* post a comment
* e-mail this story
* print this story
* order a reprint
* suggest a story
* digg this
* add to Business Exchange
* linkedin connections
Click here to find out more!
A.W. "Bill" Jones III had an eye for the finer things. After taking over his family's sprawling golf resort on Sea Island, Ga., in 1992, he toured America's top clubs for a sense of what the competition had to offer. Soon Sea Island Co.'s clubhouse locker rooms boasted antique wood beams, overstuffed couches, fireplaces, libraries, and mounted game from Jones' hunting trips to Africa.
3D TV: Not So Fast
Sony and other TV makers, along with Hollywood studios, want three-dimensional entertainment in your living room, but high price tags may slow adoption
By Cliff Edwards
Consumers are falling fast for 3D entertainment. For proof, consider the success of Avatar, an otherworldly adventure film full of three-dimensional imagery that in just two weeks has grossed more than $640 million at the box office.
In hopes of capitalizing on the public's burgeoning thirst, Hollywood studios are cramming 3D content into more films and TV manufacturers are equipping gear so that it showcases the technology in people's living rooms.
But as much as consumers demand 3D in theaters, they may not quickly usher it into their homes. Making a living room theater 3D-capable can cost upwards of $4,000, a hurdle that even the most ardent 3D backers say may slow adoption. "We don't expect to see an explosion of 3D in the home until the 2012 time frame," says Mike Fasulo, chief marketing officer for Sony Electronics, which nevertheless is betting its future on the technology. Sony is among the electronics makers that plan to introduce 3D-friendly TVs and DVD players at the Consumer Electronics Show, due to begin Jan. 7 in Las Vegas.
read more “3D TV: Not So Fast”
By Cliff Edwards
Consumers are falling fast for 3D entertainment. For proof, consider the success of Avatar, an otherworldly adventure film full of three-dimensional imagery that in just two weeks has grossed more than $640 million at the box office.
In hopes of capitalizing on the public's burgeoning thirst, Hollywood studios are cramming 3D content into more films and TV manufacturers are equipping gear so that it showcases the technology in people's living rooms.
But as much as consumers demand 3D in theaters, they may not quickly usher it into their homes. Making a living room theater 3D-capable can cost upwards of $4,000, a hurdle that even the most ardent 3D backers say may slow adoption. "We don't expect to see an explosion of 3D in the home until the 2012 time frame," says Mike Fasulo, chief marketing officer for Sony Electronics, which nevertheless is betting its future on the technology. Sony is among the electronics makers that plan to introduce 3D-friendly TVs and DVD players at the Consumer Electronics Show, due to begin Jan. 7 in Las Vegas.
iPod Touch's Holiday Sales Spike Likely Beat the iPhone's
While Apple's iPhone grabs headlines, the cheaper iPod touch keeps gaining devoted fans
By Peter Burrows
Ever since Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPhone in the summer of 2007, it has been hailed as one of the most revolutionary products in tech history. By comparison, the iPod touch, which has all the iPhone's features without the cell phone, has been downright publicity-starved.
But this holiday season, it seems the thinner, cheaper device may be Apple's breakout hit. While actual sales data are not yet available, Broadpoint AmTech (BPSG) analyst Brian Marshall figures iPod touch sales soared more than 100%, to 7.2 million, in the final quarter of 2009, while iPhone sales rose 53%, to 11.3 million.
read more “iPod Touch's Holiday Sales Spike Likely Beat the iPhone's”
By Peter Burrows
Ever since Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPhone in the summer of 2007, it has been hailed as one of the most revolutionary products in tech history. By comparison, the iPod touch, which has all the iPhone's features without the cell phone, has been downright publicity-starved.
But this holiday season, it seems the thinner, cheaper device may be Apple's breakout hit. While actual sales data are not yet available, Broadpoint AmTech (BPSG) analyst Brian Marshall figures iPod touch sales soared more than 100%, to 7.2 million, in the final quarter of 2009, while iPhone sales rose 53%, to 11.3 million.
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