Capital Expansion and Migrant Workers... "...The research looks at the plight of Burmese migrant workers on the border between Thailand and Burma, in particular the town of Mae Sot. Mae Sot has become notorious for the amount, and severity of the human rights abuses. The research demonstrates that the changes to manufacturing, labour, and capital investment has led to a systematic erosion of labor rights. As argued in the thesis, labour rights are consistently sacrificed in order to attract and maintain investment, raising questions as to who are the primary beneficiaries of capitalist development. As Thailand and neighboring countries take further steps to increase border industrialization and development, labor standards are being pushed down both directly for the migrant workers employed in border industries, and often for domestic workers who are being forced to accept lower standards. The research examines the international economic context to the rise of Mae Sot as a manufacturing centre. It also looks at the groups involved in protecting workers rights, specifically the role of trade unions, and suggests that social and political organizing workers must be reignited in order to ensure their protection..."