Bahrain's labour reforms over the years, which continue to protect the rights of migrant workers, have been praised by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
He highlighted this during a webinar organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila and the Human Resources and Social Development Ministry, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has launched labour reforms to allow expatriates to switch jobs without their employer’s permission, a step towards abolishing the ‘kafala’, or sponsorship system.
Bahrain introduced a mobility law in 2009 and has also launched several schemes such as the flexi-work permit that allows expats to sponsor themselves and the Wage Protection Scheme. The latter will be rolled out next month under which private sector employers will mandatorily transfer salaries directly into employees’ bank accounts.
“I welcome the labour reforms initiative in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and, of course, Bahrain,” said the Philippines president.
“I’m hopeful that it will significantly improve the working conditions of migrant workers in the kingdom, including the 800,000 Filipinos,” he added.
The webinar, ‘Labour Mobility and Human Rights’, was held in co-operation with the International Organisation of Migration and featured various speakers, including former Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chief executive Ausamah Al Absi who praised Saudi Arabia for the ‘brilliant and courageous’ steps it has taken as part of its labour reforms.
“Mobility is the core of reforming the ‘kafala’ system as it gives the migrant worker the right to switch jobs, and helps the local workforce to compete in the labour market,” he said.
“For decades employers have stuck to the traditional system that relied on the law to retain the employee and stop them from leaving.
“What we have seen in Bahrain in the past 13 years is that attempts were made by employers to retain the old model by adding ridiculous clauses to the contract, demanding compensation in case the worker decided to leave, retaining their passports and even filing court cases against them.”
Though in most cases the court cases were dismissed by Bahrain’s courts, it was a tool to scare the workers from taking up other jobs.
“My counterparts in Saudi Arabia have taken significant steps towards labour reforms and based on our experience in Bahrain they will deal with issues resembling trafficking in persons and modern slavery as a result of employers trying to hang on to the old system.”
Mr Al Absi also called for a reduction in the recruitment cost of domestic workers in Gulf countries.
“There are cases where Bahrainis take loans or pay between 16 per cent and 24pc of their annual income to recruit a domestic worker.
“The recruitment cost should be reduced by the labour-sending countries because if this domestic worker wants to leave after a year, the employer cannot afford to go through the cycle again.”
There was a 21pc drop in the number of domestic workers in Bahrain during the fourth quarter of last year, to 65,628, compared with 84,010 in the same period in 2019.
However, despite the pandemic, the LMRA issued 5,008 new visas for the above segment of workers last year.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
© Copyright 2020 www.gdnonline.com
Copyright 2021 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
