Myanmar Workers Sue Thai Food Titan For Labour Abuse

BANGKOK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd September, 2016) - A group of Myanmar migrants filed a lawsuit Friday against a major Thai food exporter over allegations of forced labour on a chicken farm.

Thailand's seafood sector has gained global notoriety for using trafficked labour and subjecting boat crews to slave-like conditions.

But the poultry industry, which exports around a third of its broiler meat to Europe, has largely evaded scrutiny.

Fourteen migrant workers are now demanding $1.3 million in compensation for being overworked and underpaid on a Thai chicken farm, said Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN), a group that helped them launch the case.

The labourers said they were forced to work gruelling 20 hour days that included sleeping in chicken rearing areas on the Lopburi farm that supplied meat to Betagro -- a Thai food conglomerate with clients around the globe.