Saudi, Philippines sign worker agreement
A long-delayed agreement on Filipino household service workers in Saudi Arabia is due to be signed on May 19, granting the workers a minimum wage of 1,500 riyal a month ($400, 16,500 Philippine pesos).
The agreement also includes that a bank account will be opened by employers, the workers from now on can communicate with anyone at any time, are allowed to leave at the end of the contract or if an emergency arises and get assistance if needed.
Household workers include housemaids, cooks, baby sitters, family drivers and laundrywomen.
Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and his Philippine counterpart Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapiliz-Baldoz are scheduled to ink the bilateral labour agreement in Monday. It is the first of its kind with a country supplying household workers to Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, the Kingdom stopped processing, verifying and authenticating visa applications of Filipino domestic workers, following the enforcement of the country’s amended laws on migrant workers that requires rules to protect the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic workers.
Saudi Arabia is currently the largest hirer of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and has the largest Filipino population in the Middle East of about 1.5 million workers, the second largest OFW population behind the US. (See the graph in this article.)
Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, and are the second-largest source of overseas remittances to the Philippines. However, in the past there have been repeated reports about Filipinos in Saudi Arabia becoming victims of sexual abuses, receiving maltreatment, are not getting their salaries and suffer from other labour malpractices, according to Migrante, a Manila-based OFW organization
A long-delayed agreement on Filipino household service workers in Saudi Arabia is due to be signed on May 19, granting the workers a minimum wage of 1,500 riyal a month ($400, 16,500 Philippine pesos). The agreement also includes that a bank account will be opened by employers, the workers from now on can communicate with anyone at any time, are allowed to leave at the end of the contract or if an emergency arises and get assistance if needed. Household workers include housemaids, cooks, baby sitters, family drivers and laundrywomen. Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and his Philippine counterpart Labor Secretary...
A long-delayed agreement on Filipino household service workers in Saudi Arabia is due to be signed on May 19, granting the workers a minimum wage of 1,500 riyal a month ($400, 16,500 Philippine pesos).
The agreement also includes that a bank account will be opened by employers, the workers from now on can communicate with anyone at any time, are allowed to leave at the end of the contract or if an emergency arises and get assistance if needed.
Household workers include housemaids, cooks, baby sitters, family drivers and laundrywomen.
Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and his Philippine counterpart Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapiliz-Baldoz are scheduled to ink the bilateral labour agreement in Monday. It is the first of its kind with a country supplying household workers to Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, the Kingdom stopped processing, verifying and authenticating visa applications of Filipino domestic workers, following the enforcement of the country’s amended laws on migrant workers that requires rules to protect the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic workers.
Saudi Arabia is currently the largest hirer of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and has the largest Filipino population in the Middle East of about 1.5 million workers, the second largest OFW population behind the US. (See the graph in this article.)
Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, and are the second-largest source of overseas remittances to the Philippines. However, in the past there have been repeated reports about Filipinos in Saudi Arabia becoming victims of sexual abuses, receiving maltreatment, are not getting their salaries and suffer from other labour malpractices, according to Migrante, a Manila-based OFW organization
