Slanting the News

[admin]

World cup work boon for Thais

Tens of thousands of Thai workers are expected to be recruited to Qatar to help build the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 football World Cup, says the vice-minister of Labour Yuph Nana.

''Most Thai workers in the Middle East are currently employed in Qatar and Kuwait, but their numbers are going to increase very soon following Qatar winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup,'' Mr Nana said in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post Sunday. ''Thais will build the required new cities, stadiums, housing complexes and many other things.

''But the skilled workers will come mostly from Thailand, with unskilled labourers coming from other countries.''

Model of one of the stadiums Qatar has promised for the 2022 World Cup.

Mr Nana said a memorandum of understanding to allow a total of 54,000 Thais to work in the oil-rich state was being considered by both countries but had not yet been ratified.

There are already 13,000 Thais working in Qatar in the construction sector, helping build the new international airport and an oil refinery and in related sectors.

In April, Qatar announced that it had given approval for the total number of Thai workers in the country to be increased to 54,000, which was awaiting formal approval.

Qatar stunned the world last month when it won the right to stage the World Cup over more fancied rivals.

Qatar stunned the sporting world in December when the wealthy country of just 1.5 million people won the right to stage the world's most-watched sporting event from its more fancied rivals; the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Apart from building 12 new stadiums and 70,000 hotel rooms, Qatar will spend US$25 billion (762 billion baht) on a rail network, $5.5 billion on a deep water seaport, $11 billion on a new international airport and $20 billion on new roads.

Mr Nana, a Muslim, also said he was trying to smooth relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia, which has stopped the flow of Thai migrant workers.

Diplomatic relations were downgraded after a Thai worker stole jewellery from the Saudi royal household 20 years ago and several Saudi diplomats subsequently disappeared in Thailand.

Mr Nana said he had been working with Nabil H Ashri, charge d'affaires of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Bangkok, to solve the problem. ''Mr Nabil Ashri has been trying very hard during recent years,'' Mr Nana said. Mr Nana, is the grandson of the late Lek Nana, the ''king of Bangkok Landlords'', who served in several senior government positions and was secretary-general of the Democrat Party.

When did Thailand become a source for skilled labor in construction projects? Are they implying that Thais will be architects, project managers, or other "skilled" professions? Look around on the internet and you will find an endless supply of articles indicating Thailand has a huge skilled labor shortage. Thailand won't be sending skilled labor. They'll be sending in grunts to go lift stuff, move stuff, and do other tasks that the rest of the world terms as unskilled labor.

It reminds me of when during the rice shortage a few years back there was some minister or something or another claiming that Thailand was going to be like the Middle East because they had an oversupply of rice and the price of rice was only going to go up. But if you look at the GDP per capita of the oil rich countries in the Middle East compared to Thailand, Thailand would need to have 500% GDP growth to even be in the same grouping as the Middle East countries he was comparing Thailand to. Of course, that minister sort of forgot about the fact that people can simply plant rice (which many countries started doing after the rice shortage) which increases supply and drives the prices down. How do you become a minister of something and fail Econ 101?

I think that they should train journalists in Thailand to respond to every government spokesmen's comments with "Are you f*cking high?" The fact that some of this crap goes unchallenged makes a mockery of journalism.

[English_Bob]

I find this to be an 'unfair accusation against Thailand' and I will defend Thailand 'very strongly'.

[luckyphil247]

When did Thailand become a source for skilled labor in construction projects? Are they implying that Thais will be architects, project managers, or other "skilled" professions?

Not at all, as skilled labour is describing jobs like rigging, scaffolding, and many other trades eg. concreting, tiling, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, the list goes on.

You could even include electrical and mechanical engineers as many work hands on, hence the word labour.

The professions you listed are just that, professionals who wear a white collar and have studied at university, big difference.

However, Thais doing these kind of jobs aren't skilled at all, often just learning on the job. Let's all be honest and agree that the real reason Qatar is seeking Thai labour is because it's much cheaper. So in that respect, yes the news has been slanted.

Thailand won't be sending skilled labor. They'll be sending in grunts to go lift stuff, move stuff, and do other tasks that the rest of the world terms as unskilled labor.

Have to disagree, as in Australia most construction workers are skilled and have a trade where they actually did an apprenticeship lasting 4 years.

Most construction workers and "tradies" earn much more than your average office worker.

The jobs in Qatar are not considered to be unskilled in Europe or Australia, just try and get the equivalent job over there and you'll soon realise that they only employ skilled people.

In Thailand, the government doesn't give much respect and credit to labour workers. The labour force here really needs to come together as a union and bring big business and government to it's knees.

[Dave40]

In Thailand, the government doesn't give much respect and credit to labour workers. The labour force here really needs to come together as a union

This can be their theme song Phil if it can be translated!!!!