A plan to buy retinal scanners to replace fingerprint scanners now used to register migrant workers goes too far, labour groups say.
Suraphong Kongchanthuek, vice-president of the Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN), said the fingerprint scanning system used in the migrant worker identification system is good enough. He was speaking Thursday at a seminar at Chulalongkorn University.
Claims have arisen that the fingerprint scanners do not work well for some workers who perform heavy manual labour, as their fingerprints fade over time. Mr Suraphong said authorities should find out how many workers are affected.
It was reported the Labour Ministry was looking to introduce the more expensive retinal scanners which it insisted would deliver accurate identification of migrant workers.
Sakchai Thammapreechathaworn, president of the association of labour brokerage companies, agreed the fingerprint scanners were efficient for identifying most migrant workers. "The bigger question before us is how sincere the government is in addressing problems [in the migrant worker registration system]," he said.
The contention over the retinal scanner purchase issue was said to be one reason behind the recent transfer of Varanon Peetiwan as Employment Department chief.
Acting Labour Minister Gen Surasak Kanjanarat said the retinal scanners were necessary for migrant labour management and would help allay concerns of ineffective identification which could be raised by the European Union. The EU has placed Thailand on its Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing watchlist with the threat of penalties if it does not comply.
Labour advocacy groups and non-governmental organisations supported the use of the retinal scanners. They argued the fingerprint scanners were useless on the faded fingerprints of fishery workers.
Meanwhile, Atthawit Suwannaphakdi, a former Democrat Party MP for Bangkok, said the government should shorten the nationality verification process, as it is too lengthy at a time when employers are already struggling with labour shortages.
