New pact to protect workers

QATAR and the Philippines are working on a new pact which would protect the Filipino workers from problems arising out of discrepancies in the contracts that they signed at home and their employers here.

The proposed labour agreement between the governments of Qatar and the Philippines is expected to reduce the cases of grievances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Qatar, Philippines Department of Labour & Unemployment under-secretary Arturo Sodusta told Gulf Times yesterday.

Although the two countries first signed a labour agreement in 1997 and a protocol just two months ago, the new agreement will include the “single contract obligation” – a longstanding demand of the Manila government.

Sodusta said that such a contract will be recognised by the departments of labour in both the countries.

“What you have now is a communication gap. The Filipinos back home are signing something and ending up here in Qatar with something totally else,” Sodusta said.

“Because currently five out of 10 labour-related grievances arise as a result of the communication gap,” he said.

Efforts to “fine tune” the agreement, which is in the “final stages”, will continue with a Qatari delegation visiting Manila in January.

According to him some 37,000 Filipinos are expected to take up jobs in Qatar next year. He said this assessment followed the meeting the presidential delegation had with chief executive officers of companies employing Filipinos in large numbers.

OFW mostly complain about contract substitution, contracts being violated, non-payment of salaries and reduction of salaries, he said.

Qatar is home to 150,000 OFWs (not including the children and families).