MikeLigalig.com

Vivian Napeñas
abs-cbnnews.com

In an attempt to solve ‘contract substitution’ of overseas Filipino workers bound for the United Arab Emirates, Philippine Labor Secretary Arturo Brion met with UAE Labor Minister Ali Bin Abdullar Al Kaabi in Abu Dhabi, ABS-CBN Middle East Bureau reported.

Vivien Napeñas of ABS-CBN Middle East Bureau reported that the two ministers also discussed other important labor issues pertaining to the country’s migrant workers in the UAE.

"Essentially, this is in furtherance of the Memorandum of Understanding that we signed in Manila of April 9 of this year," Brion said. The MOU provided for a unified contract and for better protection for OFWs in the Emirates.

For his part, Dr. Al Kaabi said "What we can develop between you and us as model, we can use with other GCC countries."

Philippine ambassador to the UAE Libran Cabactulan was also present at the meeting.

According to him, Dr. Al Kaabi first mentioned the demand for Filipino nurses in the UAE, and not just for the hospitals.

"We have now nurses on demand. A lot of people want nurses in their home but we don't want the home to sponsor them. We want the company," Dr. Al Kaabi said.

He explained that the recruitment company would be the one to hire the said nurses. This way, the labor ministry would have an easier time monitoring the company as the employer.

He also said to avoid contract substitution, an e-contract would be used

"What we need is where we are going to set up our system. The electronic contract is available, you go to the Internet, we just you give you password for it. The second thing is for the biometrics," Dr. Al Kaabi said.

He added that using this sort of system would make sure that the person interviewed would be the one who arrives in the UAE.

Dr. Al Kaabi, however, said that they could not do much about the proliferation of OFWs who used a visit visa to go to the UAE and then worked upon arriving there.

But he said the OFWs brought to the UAE for on-the-job-training or testing would be provided with Mission Visas, a requirement of which would be an agreement with the company in question and a health certificate as well.

Dr. Al Kaabi suggested that they "look at the possibility of you sending your people here for training. Those who will make the grade we keep, those who do not make the grade, you can send them elsewhere."

He even suggested setting up a training center for nurses who will work in the UAE.

The proposals by both sides would help fix the employment situation of OFWs in the UAE, at least until the next meeting of the two ministers in January.

"Our own technical working groups will be meeting about this procedure, what we need in order to intermesh our systems, in order to have a system that would meet the need of our workers, the Filipinos as well as the UAE," Brion said.

The UAE Ministry of Labor wants a standardization of labor guidelines for the betterment both of OFWs and of the UAE.

"We have standard for building, by building the highest tower. We have standard for roads, we must have standards for labor force. These are the people who do the work for us," Dr. Al Kaabi said.


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