Agreement to ensure worker rights

LOCAL RECRUITERS have inked an agreement with counterparts in the Emirate of Dubai to ensure the rights of Filipino domestic workers, including a wage floor, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz said local licensed recruitment agencies (LRAs) and foreign placement agencies (FPAs) representing foreign employers in Dubai signed a joint statement of commitment that will pave the way for the full implementation of the Labor department’s reform package for Household Service Workers (HSWs).

Provisions of the package include payment of the minimum monthly salary of $400 and non-charging of excessive fees.

Delmer Cruz, labor attache-designate to Dubai, said another important provision of the joint statement is on repatriation.

“… (T)he Philippine LRAs and the Dubai FPAs… will facilitate the repatriation of distressed workers they deploy and cooperate fully with proper authorities in doing so,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

For her part, Ms. Baldoz said: “I am happy to note that the new SEC for HSWs to be deployed to Saudi Arabia has motivated other Middle East countries to follow suit and also formulate their own modes of giving our HSWs the kind of protection they truly deserve.”

She was referring to a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia which set a minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers last September.

The minimum wage for foreign household helpers has also been raised by the Hong Kong government in September.

Increases of HK$180 (4.8%) to $3,920 on the minimum allowable wage (MAW) and HK$100 (12.9%) to HK$875 on the food allowance of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong will be implemented for contracts signed starting Sept. 20 this year. — A. S. O. Alegado, Businessworld