ASIA-LABOUR: New Deal for Migrant Workers

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Oct 12 1997 (IPS) - Sri Lanka is planning new rules governing employment contracts for migrant workers, on the lines of what already exists in the Philippines, in a move to minimise the problems faced by workers abroad.

Participants from eight countries, most of whom supply migrant workers to the Middle East and the rest of the world, were told at a conference here on migrant workers that the rules are meant to ensure that workers, particularly women, got a fair deal.

Representatives from non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines met in Sri Lanka’s capital from Oct. 7 to 9 to devise a common strategy to deal with these problems that confront workers and their families.

Millions of nationals from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines work abroad, enriching the coffers of these governments but the state pays little or no attention to their well-being, social activists allege.

The three-day international conference, titled ‘Role of Trade Unions and NGOs in protecting the rights of migrant workers,’ was organised by the Asian American Free Labour Institute.

After three days of deliberations — in which NGOs active in the field of migrant workers and trade unions were meeting together for the first time — the group came up with a series of recommendations and follow-up action in their respective countries.

Indonesia, the conference was told, was phasing out the migration of domestic workers. Recommendations included free round trip by air, free food and medical benefits, cost of work permit and visa to be paid by the employer and working hours to confirm to labour laws that apply in that country.

It was also noted that the mental health of migrant workers should be looked into, and an awareness of the responsibilities of the father and grandmother in raising the children when the mother is away, should be created. The group suggested that those going abroad should be called workers, like in any other profession, instead of migrant workers, so that they are entitled to normal workers’ rights and employee rights.

Trade unions were asked to open up special desks or sections to deal with migrant workers. It was decided that there should be proper reorientation for migrant workers so that they will understand better the country they are going to, the conditions there, local laws and conditions in these households.

Lobbying with governments to make use of various laws available in the Philippines and social safety network systems in Hong Kong, where expatriate workers, especially housemaids, have formed their own associations to look after their interests, was also urged.

The recommendations included asking governments to set up “migrant working family support services” with NGO and trade union participation, and recognising the role of the media and establishment of permanent commissions on migrant workers with NGOs and trade unions as members.

During the meeting, attention was drawn to the common problems faced by workers like lack of human rights, being forced into prostitution, slavery, non payment of wages, non-compliance of contract rules by the employer, harassment and physical abuse.

Most of the nationals from the participating countries go to the Middle East and it is the female worker who suffers.

Sri Lankan officials were unable to comment on the new contract of employment rules that is expected to be implemented in November but a spokesman for a recruitment agency said one of the clauses was that the contract must be jointly signed by the employer, employee, the recruiting agency, the Sri Lankan mission in that country and the state-run Foreign Employment Bureau.

Sri Lanka’s Suraj Dandeniya, president of the Federation of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies of Sri Lanka, told IPS that the new rules had been drafted by government authorities without the help of recruitment agencies. “How can you implement a government contract between two private parties when these parties have not even been consulted?” he argued.

He said the government paid scant regard to recruitment agencies who find overseas employment for an average 300,000 to 400,000 Sri Lankans a year. “Recently the president (Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga) called a key meeting to discuss the problems of migrant workers and find ways of easing their problems. Sri Lankan heads of missions in countries where our people are employed and government agencies dealing with the

problem were all invited. But we were not. Why?” he asked.

According to a paper on social costs presented at the conference, 45 percent of a sample of 2,000 migrant households in 17 districts in Sri Lanka had encountered at least one adverse consequence of migration like the neglect of children. The study by an NGO, the Marga Institute, found that migration resulted in social costs and provided an easy escape from social problems.

The study lamented the lack of government support for migrant workers, saying “when reports cite the foreign exchange earnings from tea, garments, etc compared with migrant remittances, they fail to note the expenditure that goes into those earnings … In the case of migrants, the earnings come into the country’s coffers with little or no investment in that sector.”