Burmese migrants who were illegally charged excessive recruitment fees to secure jobs at an electronics manufacturer in Thailand are being compensated in a rare award expected to spotlight a practice known to trap workers in modern slavery.
Cal-Comp Electronics – which supplies to tech giants such as HP Inc – is reimbursing at least 10,000 workers, according to Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN), a charity in Thailand, and Electronics Watch, a global watchdog.
The repayments – revealed exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation – could total about $10 million, an estimate based on the number of workers and average sum of $660 they paid which was more than six times the legal limit in Myanmar, MWRN said.
