Some seven months after being laid off by the Perfetto Limited Partnership Company in northern Thailand, 100 Burmese migrant workers have finally received some compensation, although not from the firm – from Chiang Mai’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW).

The 100 workers – most of whom are from Shan State – each received a cheque for 9,000 baht (US$250) as compensation at Chiang Mai provincial hall today.

Local governor Pawin Chamniprasart hosted a ceremony to hand over the cheques.

“I regret that you have not yet received the money you deserve,” he said. “However, we are working toward getting the employer to pay you.”

Speaking to Shan Herald at the ceremony on Wednesday, Mwe Oo Nanta, an official from the Human Rights and Development Foundation and an assistant advisor to the Migrant Workers Federation, said she was working alongside Thai government agencies to take action against the company owner.

“Now, some of the workers have received some compensation from the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare. But there are others who did not get paid,” she said. “Therefore, we will push harder to get the employers to pay the workers the money they deserve.”

She added that, usually, migrant workers are too afraid to demand their rights and pursue these matters.

Sai Ling, a construction worker who laboured on a Perfetto site in Hang Dong, just south of Chiang Mai, said he felt better after receiving some compensation, adding that he and his co-workers could not find jobs after they were laid off because their work permits were registered with the old employer.

“We have been facing so many difficulties,” he said. “We had to move out of our living quarters because the water and electricity was cut off. And we could not find jobs because our work permits would not allow it.”

Nang Kong, another Burmese labourer who was laid off by the firm in December, said, “I could not go outside for two months. It was so stressful because I had no money to feed my children.”

Perfetto laid off a total of 195 workers on December 16, 2015. On January 28 and February 1, 2016, the workers submitted a petition to the DLPW, claiming 5,969,455.44 baht ($186,545) in unpaid wages and compensation.

The 195 labourers had been hired to work on three construction projects in Chiang Mai: Star Avenue 5, Diamant Condominium, and the Spring Condominium.

Chiang Mai’s DLPW said it sent a letter on March 28 to Perfetto Ltd Partnership Company, ordering them to pay the workers’ wages and compensation, but has so far seen no progress.

No representative of the Perfetto company was available for comment.