While government initiative is paramount, NGO, labour, industry and government representatives acknowledge the need to work together to protect workers' rights

A Thai man sorts shrimp at Klong Toey market in Bangkok.

Thailand is the world's third largest exporter of seafood, and the industry employs over 300,000 people, a large proportion of which is migrant labour from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. In recent years, allegations of abuse, slave labour and human trafficking have increased and put pressure on the industry.

Last week, Oxfam Thailand in collaboration with the Asian Research Center for Migration and Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University held a seminar entitled "Humans Of Seafood: Ways And Challenges Of People In The Seafood Supply Chain". Gathering representatives from all sectors to share their progress and obstacles, the session aimed to find collaborative ways of reducing inequality among foreign workers.

Representing the manufacturing side, Prach Kerdpairoj, human rights manager of the Thai Union Group, said: "The Thai Union company has set up a welfare committee under the Labour Protection Act 1998. We also carry out a fair selection process of employees' representatives, and this year we plan to expand this into four more plants."

"For this welfare committee to be effective, however, it needs to be proportionally representative of the workforce and it needs to be endowed with the authority to make relevant decisions; that is currently not the case," Suthasinee Kaewleklai, a representative from the Migrant Worker Rights Network, said on the matter. "Further, these representatives must be informed about their duties as well as the fundamental rights of workers and should convene on a regular basis."

In 2015, the European Union threatened to ban Thai seafood if human rights violations continued in the supply chain of the multi-billion-baht industry. In March, the industry was under further international scrutiny as a team of United Nations experts undertook a visit to examine the state of human rights in a wide range of businesses in Thailand, including the fishing and seafood sectors.

After the 10-day inspection and a meeting with Thai authorities, the UN experts said that while there was still much room for improvement, Thailand had made significant progress on the issue. They also urged the government to make similar changes in other sectors.

In a similarly encouraging vein, the annual US State Department report on human trafficking was released last week. For the second time in three years, the Trafficking In Persons Report raised the country's ranking, from Tier 3 (the lowest of four) in 2015 to Tier 2 Watchlist in 2016 to Tier 2 in this year's edition. The country's promotion bears testimony to the government's effort to improve workers' rights, especially in the fishing industry, but it does not take away from the long way still ahead.

According to the report, Thailand still "does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking" and continues to be a hot spot of forced labour, sex trafficking and workplace abuse.

The seminar last week, then, carried a hopeful tone while acknowledging the ongoing difficulties in the management of migrant labour that involves all sides, namely the employer, the labourer and the government.

"Providing migrant workers with clear and transparent information such as a job description, working hours and the terms of a contract beforehand is an effective way of getting the right person," said Manasanan Phromkittichot, recruitment & labour relations division manager of Seafresh Industry. "We want workers to feel secure and comfortable with their job. The company will benefit by a reduced turnover rate, thus saving the costs of hiring a new employee."

"In addition to informing workers about duties and basic rights ahead of time, a company must ensure that there is a working insurance and an accessible way for workers to make a complaint," said Paphob Siemhan, a representative of the Human Rights and Development Foundation.

However, in order to reach these goals, getting support from the government will be key.

"The government isn't complacent about the situation. Currently, we have an operational Port-In-Port-Out Control Center as well as labour inspections. We also have a database covering about hundred-thousand workers," said Dorn Tippanan, deputy director of policy and planning at the Command Center of Combating Illegal Fishing.

He admitted that there is a growing need for more government regulators in order to cope with the many thousands of boats making their way in and out of the Thai seas every day.

What's most important, the seminar concluded, is to find a way to collaborate and to take proactive measures instead of chasing after problems and trying to fix them.

Asst Prof Dr Naruemol Tubjumpol from the Asian Research Center for Migration said: "Discussions between the public, the government and the private sectors are rare but useful. But the main challenge is how to bring these sectors to work together in what we call Collaborative Governance. Plus, we must build up a common space in which everyone can engage -- from workers and consumers to retailers -- in order to sort out the problems in a sustainable way."