Salaries of over 500 Burmese workers of a fishing net factory, who wanted to quit has been deducted by the factory in-charge in Khong Khan town, on the Thai-Laos border.

Burmese workers in the Ditchar Phannic fishing net factory wanted to quit their jobs on 5 September because they were being harassed by the worker in-charge of the factory and had no labour rights.

The factory in-charge agreed to their request but stopped their salaries, Ko Tun Tun, a Burmese worker, said.

"The management pasted a notice on the board on the evening of 6 September, which said our request was communicated to the labour office. Workers would have to leave the factory at 9 am on 7 September. The salary would be delivered to the Immigration office. The factory in-charge lied that he had already given salaries to 569 workers," Ko Tun Tun said.

The factory management did not tell us we had to leave immediately when we made our request. The workers have faced a lot of problems and are worried about being sent back by Thai immigration officers.

"At 3 am yesterday factory guards kept us at gun point and fired in the sky," Ko Tun Tun said.

According to Thai labour laws, workers must take their salary from the owner, Ko Nit from Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) said.

"There are labour laws in this country. Workers get salary from their work place. They don't need to take the salary from the immigration office," Ko Nit said.

Workers said they would leave the factory after they get their documents and salaries, Ko Tun Tun said.

If a worker wants to change jobs he has to take legal transfer documents from the owner.

About 1,000 workers demonstrated in this factory last September demanding labour rights. At that time, workers had to work from 8 am to 8 pm on a salary of 170 baht per day.

Even though the factory owner agreed to timings from 8 am to 5 pm at 157 bahts per day he violated the agreement later. Currently, the factory owner has to pay an average salary of 4000 baht to each worker.