17/08/2020
OFWS facing wage theft as Covid-19 pandemic rages
Monday, August 17, 2020
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Wage theft is an employer’s unfair labor practice of withholding of a
worker’s wage for work he or she has performed, or other outstanding
claims[2].
Since March of this year, the Center for Migrant Advocacy Phils. Inc. (CMA)
has received numerous reports from OFWs abroad and those repatriated of
wage theft, particularly in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries.
Each week, CMA assists 2 to 4 group cases that consist of 15 or more
workers who were laid-off due to the pandemic. Of the complainants,
59.16% are females while 40.83% are males. Most of these workers are in
the following industries: construction; domestic work; food and service; and
medical. Their common wage-related complaints are: non-payment and
underpayment of wages; illegal termination; and forcible leave without
pay. To date, there are more than 120 cases of displaced OFWs that CMA has
been assisting.
During a House hearing last July 14, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola reported that the P1 billion fund for the
repatriation of OFWs would likely run out by August 2020. DFA repatriated
82,057 overseas Filipinos as of July 13.
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On the other hand, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
announced that President Rodrigo Duterte approved last August 9 a P5
billion additional fund for repatriation and financial assistance for OFWs
who are affected by the Covid-19 crisis[3]. A huge portion of the said fund
will be given to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for
the repatriation needs of displaced OFWs.
As for DOLE-AKAP (Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong) – a one-time financial
assistance of US$200 (P10,000.00) to OFWs who have been displaced from
their jobs — the original fund allotted for the said program was P1.5 billion.
An additional P1 billion was released due to the increasing number of
applications. Unfortunately, Labor Secretary Bello III reported that as of
August 8, 2020, P2.388 billion already had been disbursed, benefiting
267,584 land-based and sea-based workers. Thus, the DOLE Secretary has
requested for more funds for DOLE-AKAP because per the department’s
forecast, at least a million OFWs will be displaced by 2021.
For more than 6 months now, the grim reality is that many OFWs who are
still on-site have been waiting in vain. Some of them were asked to stay in
place until the company could fully operate again. Their employers and
recruitment agencies could not provide concrete answer, making them feel
more insecure about their employment status in a foreign land.
No job, not enough food to eat, no money to send to their families and
delayed aid from our government – this is the dire situation of migrant
workers around the world in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of
the workers who approached CMA for assistance shared, “My co-worker’s
wife is looking for money to buy a plane ticket for him because our agency
requires us to spend for half the amount of the ticket. But isn’t that an
obvious violation of our employment contract? Isn’t it the responsibility of
our government to bring us back home especially during a pandemic? Is
our welfare really their top priority?”
Due to this overwhelming predicament of OFWs, Migrant Forum in Asia
(MFA) of which CMA Philippines Inc is a member together with Lawyers
https://usa.inquirer.net/57691/ofws-facing-wage-theft-as-covid-19-pandemic-rages
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