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
March –
IT’S WOMEN’S MONTH!
“Respect and support women
every day of the year/s!”
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!
#WearMask #WashHands
#Report Corruption #SearchPosts #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week;
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and “
Made-in-the-Philippines Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
March 4: Employee Appreciation Day
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day
March 18: Global Recycling Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
March 23: International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims
March 25: International Day of Remembrance of the
Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: Earth Hour
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