Seafood Working Group urges Thai Government to protect workers' rights

In the wake of the US government's decision to suspend trade preferences to Thailand due to worker rights' issues, 23 organisations participating in the Seafood Working Group, including ETI, have released a statement urging the Thai government to take the necessary reforms to get the benefits reinstated.

Thai trade unions and workers' rights organisations in Thailand have long called for legal reforms to guarantee workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and to end egregious labour rights abuses. Although some progress has been made, concerns were raised earlier this year that essential fisheries regulations were about to be abolished, potentially reversing many of the important gains made in recent years.

The Seafood Working Group is calling on the Thai government to follow through on reforms to labour legislation, end legal and judicial harassment of labour rights defenders and collaborate with worker organisations to end labour exploitation.

It is also urging leading companies exporting and sourcing seafood from Thailand, particularly members of the Seafood Task Force, to call publicly on the Thai government to reform national legislation in line with international standards and ensure workers' labour rights are respected in workplaces within their own supply chains. 

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