Thai Union Frozen Products is preparing a plan to cope with an imminent labor shortage after Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently told a huge crowd of Myanmar migrants working in the seafood industry here that she would create opportunities for them to go back home.
“The company believes that we can convince those Myanmar workers to continue working here as they will get pay equal to Thai workers and other benefits as well,” Rittirong Boonmechote, TUF’s managing director for shrimp product lines, said yesterday.
Of TUF's 12,074 workers, those from Myanmar account for 50-60 percent. If these legal migrants return home, the company’s processing lines would suffer, as the company’s plants are 80 percent concentrated on labour.
The company plans to invest THB 200 million to automate its processing lines. It has already installed the basic equipment and plans to import manufacturing robots after successfully implementing them in its factories in Europe.
