319 Exploitation in Global Supply Chains: Burmese Workers in Mae Dennis Arnold* and Kevin Hewison** Mae Sot is a town in Tak Province, NorthernThailand. It is located on the Moei River, across Mywaddy town in Karen State, Burma. Following the Thai government policy of "constructive engagement" with Burma, which began with the Chatichai Choonhavan government (1988-91), factories have begun to open and relocate to Mae Sot. Constructive engagement has meant an- increasingly porous border for capital, goods, and labour. As the cost of labour increased during Thailand's boom decade (1986-96), and particularly from 1991, when real wages grew at 8% a year, increasing numbers of Burmese workers migrated to Thailand to take low-waged jobs. These jobs, often shunned by locals, are primarily in fisheries and seafood processing, plantations and agriculture, domestic work, and factories. The Thai economy has become increasingly reliant on cheap migrant labour, and labour supply problems have only been eased through the influx of migrant workers, both legal and illegal. The migrants in Mae Sot come from nearly every part of Burma. Access to Mae Sot is easy for Burmese. Many simply cross the bridge into Mae Sot as one-day passes are available at official checkpoints. It is also possible to walk across the river during the dry season. Illegal migrants simply go to Thailand on a one-day pass and do not return. Even those deported can cross back with relative ease. Mae Sot-My waddy is the busiest of the border crossings along the Thai-Burma border. A range of factors encourage Burmese workers to migrate to Thailand, with the interconnected social, economic, and political factors in Burma and often make it difficult to distinguish between "economic migrants" and refugees. Thailand is the main destination for Burmese migrants, but many also go to India, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, escaping forced labour, a lack of economic opportunity and low wages, and human rights abuses.^ Thailand is an attractive destination due to proximity, the relative ease of crossing the Thailand-Burma border, rapid economic growth, and employment opportunities and higher wages. Over the past decade, the severity of Burma's poor socio-economic situation has resulted in an increasingly desperate situation for the Burmese population, many of whom rely on remittances from family members working in neighbouring countries. • Tha i Labour Campaign, Bangkok and Asia Monitor Resource Centre, Hong Kong, **Carolina Asia Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol. S5 No. 3 (2005)