THE Philippines on Friday said that Saudi Arabia had rejected a demand to guarantee higher pay for Filipino maids, temporarily closing one of the largest labor markets for job-hungry Manila.
The dispute began early this year after the Philippines demanded a minimum $400 monthly wage for its domestic workers as well as proof that Saudi Arabian households employing them would pay and provide humane working conditions.
With 1.3 million Filipinos on its soil, Saudi Arabia is one of the major host countries for the 9 million-strong Philippine overseas workers and the impasse will hurt both countries, Filipino labor official Carlos Cao told Agence France-Presse.
“It’s a problem for both [Riyadh and Manila]. On their part, they won’t have household service workers,” said Cao, the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
“On the [part of the Philippine] government, we won’t be able to send out household workers,” he added.
Filipinos working abroad sent $18.8 billion home to their families last year, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said.
Cao said that the latest attempt to resolve the dispute with Saudi Arabia broke down in bilateral talks held two weeks ago.
At that meeting, he added, Riyadh agreed to furnish details of prospective employers to the Philippine government, but balked at the pay hike, offering instead a base monthly salary of $210.
Cao said Manila had crafted the measures in 2007 in an attempt to protect its citizens after repeated reports of rapes, beatings and even killings of Philippine domestic workers.
“There was no minimum [wage] imposed before that. So beginning [in] 2007, we required a minimum salary for all household service workers for all countries,” he added.
“We want to protect our household service workers,” Cao said.
The two governments expect to resume ministerial-level talks on the issue next month, he added.
Besides maids, Saudi Arabia also hosts higher paid Filipino professionals including nurses, doctors and engineers. –AFP
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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September –
5 Sept – Intl Day of Charity
7 Sept – Intl Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
8 Sept – International Literacy Day
12 Sept – United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
15 Sept – International Day of Democracy
16 Sept – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
17 Sept – World Patient Safety Day
18 Sept – International Equal Pay Day
21 Sept – International Day of Peace
26 Sept – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
27 Sept – World Tourism Day
28 Sept – International Day for Universal Access to Information
29 Sept – International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
30 Sept – World Maritime Day
Monthly Observances:
Health, Safety and Sanitation Month
National Clean-up Month
Civil Service Month
National Peace Consciousness Month
Social Security Month
Rule of Law Month
National Teachers’ Month (Sept 5-Oct 4)
Weekly Observances:
Sept 17 – 23:
World Clean and Green Week
Week 2: Education Week
Week 4: Medicine Week
Last Week: National Family Week
Daily Observances:
Third Saturday:
International Coastal Clean-up Day
Third Monday: World Health Day
Last Friday: National Maritime Day
Sept 8: National Literacy Day
Sept 15: Philippine Medicine Day
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