Border industrialization and labour mobility : a case of Burmese migrant workers in border area factories

Abstract

This paper explores how contradictory economic and migration policies in border industrial areas control the mobility of migrants, trapping women migrant workers, and creating ‘disposable’ workers who are not the responsibility of either sending or importing countries. The paper analyses some of the implications of current and future migration policy based on the situation of factory workers in the Thai border town of Mae Sot where up to 3.4 million Burmese workers are currently employed. The ambivalent policy of the Thai government allows feelings of threat and informal harassment of migrant workers to spread.