KUWAIT, 28 May 2007 — A majority of the Sri Lankan workers are happy and content with the working conditions in the Kingdom, observed the island’s Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Keheliya Rambukwella.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Rambukwella said that the Kingdom has the largest concentration of his country’s labor force in the Middle East but the complaints from this workforce are minimal compared to its 550,000 Lankan worker population.
“Only one percent of this workforce, mainly domestic servants, is affected by nonpayment of salaries and becomes victim of various forms of harassment,” the minister said, blaming a section of the press for exaggerating a few sporadic incidents of housemaids running into problems.
“Nearly 75 percent of the labor problems are settled through negotiations between our labor welfare officers of the missions in Riyadh and Jeddah and the respective employers. The government funds the repatriation of workers who cannot find solutions through such negotiations,” he added. “The employer-employee relation in Saudi homes, is a two-way affair, both parties should understand each other’s culture, customs and cuisine for a trouble-free stay.”
“Still we cannot be content with the conditions in the Kingdom, since there is room for further improvements through effective dialogue between the two concerned parties,” he added. Considering the living conditions in Sri Lanka, he said that he had formally requested the Gulf countries to enhance the salaries of the housemaids to $200. This would attract more people to come to the Middle East, he said.
“We pledge to the host countries that they will get added value for their money,” he stressed, pointing out that his government plans to send fully trained domestics to their households.” Hitherto the government was giving 11 days’ training for the Gulf-bound house maids, but now the government is to provide them with a three-week training course followed by a pre-departure orientation program three days prior to their departure to their overseas destinations, he said.
At the new pre-departure orientation center, near the Colombo international airport, he said, mostly housemaids and laborers will be given three days of intensive training and awareness on what to expect at the other end. The three-day crash course would deal with country-specific issues, language, culture, counseling and foreign environment.
“The men and women preparing to go abroad will be housed at this center which can accommodate 1,000 to 1,500 people and from there they will go straight to the airport,” he said.
Rambukwella said this is going to be compulsory requirement for housemaids and low-skilled workers as it is beneficial to both the workers as well as their employers abroad. Rambukwella said his ministry is working hard to raise the profile of migrant workers such as by redesignating “housemaids” as “housekeepers” or “caregivers” and were also exploring new markets capable of providing higher salaries and working conditions.
“In Western countries they are called ‘governess’,” he said. Sri Lanka is also tapping new markets outside the traditional Middle East. These new emerging markets include Korea, Japan, Norway, Israel and Europe, the minister said. Remittances by Sri Lankan workers abroad totaled $2.5 billion last year, making it the highest foreign exchange earner of the country.
