A Thai court has dismissed charges against 14 migrant workers who alleged labour abuses in the country’s multimillion-pound poultry export industry.
Activists hailed the move as a rare victory for migrant worker rights in Thailand.
The 14 workers, all from Myanmar, filed a complaint in 2016 against their former employer Thammakaset Farm 2, a poultry farm, which at the time supplied Thai food giant Betagro.
The workers alleged that they had been forced to work 22-hour days without overtime and to often sleep in the chicken sheds with 30,000 hens. They also said their passports had been confiscated and their freedom restricted.
The owner of Thammakaset Farm 2 filed defamation charges in a turnaround against the workers, claiming their allegations were false and had damaged the farm’s reputation.
The workers faced up to one year in prison and heavy fines if convicted.
Migrants from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – many of them undocumented – staff much of Thailand’s agriculture. The charges against the 14 migrant workers were the first of their kind and sent a clear warning, activists claimed, about complaints over conditions.
Thailand supplies nearly 40% of all imported processed poultry meat in the UK, according to the most recent official figures. But rights groups claim those figures are likely to be far higher, as Thai chicken is used in ready meals and pet food. If processed in the EU, that meat is classed with an EU not Thai “country of origin” label.
In a statement issued in August 2016, Betagro confirmed that Thammakaset Farm 2 was one of its suppliers, but said it had since “stopped business operations with the farm until there is a solution to the labour conflict”.
Nakhon Chompuchat, the workers’ lawyer, said Wednesday’s ruling could help bring greater justice to an industry long marred by allegations of abuse, debt bondage, high recruitment fees and abysmal pay.
“This is a very good verdict for all migrant workers in the country,” said Chompuchat. “It says workers need not be afraid to speak up.”
The company is now appealing the court’s order to pay the workers 1.7m baht (£38,000) by Thailand’s labour department, in compensation and damages for overwork and underpayment.
Rights activist Andy Hall, who has supported the 14 workers throughout their case, and also faces charges for his social media work on the case, said that a number of international buyers pulled out of Thailand once the case went public, and are sourcing from countries with less civil society oversight.
“This is a landmark ruling for migrant worker rights, freedom of expression and business human rights issues in Thailand,” Hall told the Guardian.
“But the workers remain without any compensation, showing in practice the challenges migrants continue to face gaining access to justice even when official compensation orders are issued in their favour.”
