Migrant workers are standing in front of a closed shrimp market, amid the coronaviruses disease COVID 19 outbreak, in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, December 20, 2020. REUTERS Athit Perawongmetha File Photo
KUALA LUMPUR, December 2, Reuters - Global labour shortages and poor treatment of migrant workers exacerbated by the Pandemic should be a wake-up call for governments to treat their foreign workforce fairly instead of viewing them as occupiers activists said on Thursday.
In a panel at the Reuters Next conference, Asian labor activists said that the coronaviruses showed how many economies could not function effectively without workers from countries like the Philippines and the Mekong region.
These workers numbering in the millions are being discriminated against in their host country - forced to live in cramped dormitories separated from the general population, lacking social protection and access to COVID 19 information.
Reiko Harima, Regional Coordinator of Mekong Migration Network said the epidemic highlighted a lot of structural issues that have already existed for a long time.
It took border closures to trigger a severe labour crunch that changed the power imbalance between employers and migrant employees, said Alex Au, Vice President of Transient Workers Count Too TWC 2 Once that phenomenon appeared, it took border closures to trigger a severe labour crunch in Singapore. The problem with recruitment fees was solved by itself and there was upward pressure on salaries, Au said, referring to fees that migrant workers have to pay agents to get a job, which can leave them deep in debt.
Migrants are treated as an invisible workforce and are perceived as untrustworthy and a drain on the economy even though they are filling jobs that are not wanted by locals, the panellists said.
There is no justification for treating migrant workers any less than the locals, said Ellene A. Sana, Executive Director of Centre for Migrant Advocacy.
Foreigners who are coming into the countries are not occupiers, they are not out there to conquer Singapore or Malaysia and are out there to contribute to creating wealth, Sana said.
We should treat all of them with dignity and give them the rights they deserve.