Free-trade Pacts Ignore Labor

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Written by Estrella Torres, Tuesday, 12 January 2010

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/20823-free-trade-pacts-ignore-labor.html
THE critical shortage of professional and skilled workers in several member-countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) is not being filled because of at least three main factors that restrict worker movement within the Pacific Rim economic grouping.

A study commissioned by the Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) of the 21-member group showed the United States needing 500,000 nurses by 2025, Japan 500,000 by 2014, and Canada 113,000 nurses by 2014.

It also cited the immediate need for some 36 million skilled workers in the US and Canada , and 25 million workers needed in Russia .
The study said the three key hurdles to free movement of workers within the Apec include restrictive border security policies in rich member-economies, lack of training infrastructure in developing countries and high cost of worker placement fees.
On the high cost of placement fees imposed by recruitment agencies in sending countries like the Philippines, leading recruiters at the Apec forum where the study was discussed rejected sole blame for the high fees on the ground that agreements forged with hosting countries adopted the restrictive policies of these countries, and this included the high placement fees.
Former foreign affairs secretary Roberto Romulo, Philippine representative to the Abac, said rich economies like the US are “reluctant to take up these issues.” He added that even the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement remains a restrictive treaty due to strict requirements for Filipino nurses to undergo a two-year language training before they could quality for jobs in Japan .
But a group of recruitment agencies present at the forum on “Global Demand for Labor” at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati insisted also the high cost of placement fees are based on the restrictive policies of rich countries. Such are followed by the Philippines , for example, according to Lito Soriano of LBS Recruitment Solutions.

He said these issues should be placed in the free-trade agreements (FTAs) and memorandum of understanding to facilitate effective labor mobility and discourage the proliferation of recruitment agencies imposing high costs on workers.
“The responsibility should be in the hands of the receiving countries and not so much from the sending countries,” said Soriano.

He also said the Philippines , even being the world’s third-largest source of migrant workers, has not been able to fill in the employment needs in developed countries due to the lack of qualified workers and the absence of training infrastructure that would allow workers to qualify for technical jobs abroad.
Soriano said in the last eight years, the Philippines has not been able to send out new batches of seamen for lack of training facilities to prepare new college graduates to qualify for jobs abroad.
He said the Philippines supplies more than 20 percent of seamen in international passenger and cargo vessels. But since 2001, these Filipino seafarers are still the same people who were just renewing their contracts, he added.
“Contrary to the claims that we are increasing the numbers of Filipino workers being deployed abroad, in reality, there is no adequate Filipino workers to fill up the employment needs overseas,” said Soriano.

He said there are 200,000 licensed Filipino nurses and the demand from the US last year was more than 10,000. However, he said only 288 Filipino nurses have been deployed last year.

He also cautioned the Philippines in signing free-trade agreements with developed countries because he believes they will only result in further job losses for local workers, pointing to the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free-Trade Agreement as example, where 7,000 products had their tariffs eliminated, exposing local industries to stiff competition at a time when they are still not prepared adequately.

The Abac study also noted that temporary worker labor policies within Apec remains uneven and patchy and that FTAs focus principally on the movement of business people and neglected the movement of the skilled and unskilled workers.
The study said of the 42 FTAs signed by Apec member economies, 10 of them have no chapter on labor mobility. It added that although 28 of these FTAs contain provisions on the movement of business or natural persons, only seven of them have labor chapters.

Apec includes Australia , Brunei , Canada , Chile , China , Hong Kong-China , Indonesia , Japan , South Korea , Malaysia , Mexico , New Zealand , Papua New Guinea , Peru , Philippines , Russia , Singapore , Taiwan , United States and Vietnam .

CARAM Asia Press Statement: Lack of Political Will Compromises Rights of Domestic Workers

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

As the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia prepare to meet in order to review the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on foreign domestic workers (FDW), CARAM Asia alongside its members in the two countries, Solidaritas Perempuan and Tenaganita, calls on both governments to cement changes into legally binding legislation. Such moves would implement long over due measures to recognise domestic work as work, providing FDWs with the same rights as any other worker, including a weekly paid day off.


Despite an MOU being signed between the two countries in 2006, the past three years has demonstrated that such a mechanism has failed to provide FDWs with adequate protection from exploitation or abuse. Instead, the central tenant of the MOU continues to place the onus on productivity while neglecting any enforcement mechanisms to monitor the conditions of the workers themselves. This subsequently places the terms of employment and set of responsibilities under the direction of the employer which creates a climate prone to both abuse and exploitation. The lack of a legally enforceable contract has now meant that a large number of FDWs now work as much as 16 hours a day, seven days a week.


Thus, while the MOU claims to incorporate the need of workers to have adequate time off, the overall lack of enforcement means that the majority of FDWs are not able to have time outside of the employment sphere in order to recuperate. Furthermore, the mobility of the FDW is also impeded by the fact that in violation the Passport Act, many employers retain the employee’s personal documents for fear that they may abscond. This can be extremely damaging for the FDW as it potentially limits their ability to access health services or report criminal abuse, thus trapping the FDW in a sphere of conflict.


Therefore, under the existing terms of the MOU, FDWs continue to be denied a legally binding employment contract that would regulate the job scope and hours expected of the workers. Furthermore, any conditions laid out in the existing MOU remain largely impractical as the agreement is subservient to the national law of each country. As such, the Employment Act 1955 within Malaysian law denotes that domestic workers are merely recognised as ‘servants’ and this therefore means that they are deprived of the same rights as other worker. These include such basic rights as access to employment tribunals and contract termination benefits.


CARAM Asia notes that a further issue of concern is that governments have rarely sought to monitor the role of labour recruitment agencies, many of which operate unregistered by the official channels. Furthermore, the increasing number of agencies has resulted in a situation where the supply outweighs the demand and many migrants find themselves unable to find work but left with heavy debt.


As such we strongly contend that the MOU has not criminalised abusive behaviour against domestic workers and such agreements lack any credible oversight to provide foreign domestic workers with protection under the due process of the law. It is now time for the governments to implement their agreements into a legally binding manner, holding employers and labour recruit agencies accountable while guaranteeing the employment rights of foreign domestic workers.


We further remind the two governments that such a move would meet with their existing commitments to uphold human rights protections under both the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Both governments must therefore ensure the rights stipulated in these conventions are transferred into national law with subsequent monitoring and enforcement.


As such the Malaysian government must immediately amend the Employment Act ensuring comprehensive labour protection to all FDW within their border with the inclusion of a standard contract in the law. Only when this contract is incorporated into the Employment Act law can the rights of FDW be guaranteed.


We agree in principle with the Indonesian government’s request for domestic workers to be given a weekly day off, allowed to hold onto their own passports, paid wages promptly and assured of health and security protection.


In addition to what the Indonesian government has demanded, CARAM Asia calls upon both governments to;

(1) Clearly define the job scope of the domestic worker within the employment contract.

(2) Fix a maximum number of working hours expected of the FDW as well as the inclusion of a weekly paid day off not negotiable with compensatory wages.

(3) Reduce the placement fees by both Malaysian and Indonesian agents and enforce mechanisms to monitor agents who do not comply with the stipulated amount. The Indonesian government must review the role of agencies at all levels and control the cost of workers. While the Malaysian government must ensure fees that are already paid by employers are not charged again to the worker.

The Malaysian Government

(4) Fully amend the Employment Act to recognise domestic workers as workers instead of servants in order to provide them with the same rights and protections accommodated to any other workers.

(5) To prosecute employers and agents who hold on to the passports of the workers in accordance with the Passport Act. Passports or any other personal documents should not be kept for safekeeping by any other person.

The Indonesian Government

(6) Manage the training of domestic workers to equip them with both occupational skills and knowledge on their rights and ways to seek legal redress. Since the Indonesian migrant workers contribute to nation building through their earned remittances, the government must shoulder the training costs for them.