“Foreigners grabbing Thai jobs’: Karon Mayor

KARON: The Mayor of Karon Municipality has lodged a complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi that foreigners in the Karon area are “grabbing” jobs that Thais can do, and has urged the authorities to be more thorough about checking work permits and other licenses. The Mayor, Tawee Thongcham, told the Gazette that the Governor went to Karon on Saturday as part of his weekly “Drink Coffee with the CEO” project, to hear about local problems. K. Tawee said, “I told the Governor about the problem of foreigners grabbing Thai jobs, and pointed out that many local people have been complaining about it. “I told him that this was nothing new – it’s been happening for two or three years – but it’s going to get much worse if we don’t do something about it soon. K. Tawee said, “For example, if there are two beer bars, one belonging to a Thai and the other to a foreigner, most of the tourists will go to the one owned by the foreigner because of the cultural connections and language. That gives them an advantage over Thai people.” The Mayor told the Gazette that there is also a problem with Pakistanis or Burmese opening tailor shops, which outnumber any other business, and annoying tourists by trying to drag them into their shops. “About 50% of the businesses in the Karon area are part-owned by foreigners,” K. Tawee added. “Even when [foreigners] start businesses in our area and employ local people, the number they employ is still small.” Businesses that foreigners are mostly involved in, he added, are beer bars, dive shops, tour companies, restaurants, apartments and rooms for rent, and tailoring shops. The Governor, he said, replied that most foreigners opening businesses in Phuket do so legally, but that he would assign more officers to make more stringent checks on work permits, business licenses and payment of taxes. K. Tawee added that since he had spoken with Gov Pongpayome, many more officials have become involved in checking businesses in Karon in an effort to solve the problem.