Migrant worker

Mae Tao Clinic located in the Thai border town of Mae Sot in Tak Province officially moved to a new purposed built hospital in an effort to keep providing care to people from Burma unable to access the country’s failed healthcare system. Dr. Cynthia Maung, the founder and director of Mae Tao clinic told reporters at the new clinic’s opening…

Monsoon rains and heavy winds destroyed a Karen migrant school on the Thai Burma border last week. The school, Kwe Ka Baung, in Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak Province, had its administration office and equipment wrecked by a twister on the 21st of May, during a heavy rainstorm. A Kwe Ka Baung school official told Karen News that they are…

May Day 2016, workers around the world took to the streets and city parks to rally and march to show their solidarity and support for their workplace rights. Trade unionists started the May Day celebrations, also known as International Workers Day in Chicago in 1886, when they demanded and won an eight-hour workday, today it is celebrated by workers from…

Burma community based groups working on child protection issues met to press the new government to recognize birth registrations recorded on the Thai Burma border and among migrant communities in Thailand. The Committee for the Protection and Promotion of Child Rights (CPPCR), a community group working on child protection issues hosted a workshop on 1st February in the Thai border…

The Burma government’s announced on August 25 that its National Minimum Wage Committee had approved a minimum daily wage of K3,600 (US$2.80) for a standard eight-hour work day across all industries. From 1st September the national minimum wage will apply and workers’ minimum monthly pay would be about $67 based on a six-day week. The state-owned media reported that he…

About 700 migrant workers from the Garman (aka A1) garment factory in Mae Sot, Thailand staged a protest over seven demands. Karen News is led to understand that the factory workers have been in negotiations since July 4, with the factory owners and officials but have yet to reach a settlement. A worker organiser, Kyi Soe, told Karen News that,…

To commemorate ASEAN Dengue Day on June 15, 2015, international aid agencies, community based groups and public health workers across the region are organizing theatre performances, school art competitions, fumigation programs and awareness campaigns. In the Thai border town of Mae Sot community development officers are organizing door-to-door check in an effort to eliminate wastewater where mosquitos can breed. In…

A senior Thai Health Ministry official said that from May 2015, government health insurance packages are available to buy for every registered migrant worker and their dependents. Dr. Poonlarp Chantavichitwong, Chief of Tak Public Health Officer from Tak Public Health Office, told local reporters after a joint health conference held in Mae Sot with the Karen State Health Department of…

Four boarding houses of the Children Development Center (CDC), a migrant school on the Thai border town of Mae Sot, burnt to the ground on Wednesday, February 25, leaving homeless 62 male students who were living and studying at the school. Saw Elijah, administrator of the boarding house spoke to Karen News. “The boarding house caught fire at about 4:50…

Parents and education service providers of migrant communities in the Thai border town of Mae Sot are struggling to continue sending their children to school. Migrant education organisations told Karen News that the closure of migrant schools is caused by withdrawal of funding by international donors. Officials from the Thai Ministry of Education, the Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee, World…