The long-awaited labor agreement on Filipino household service workers (HSW) will finally be signed by the Kingdom and the Philippines tomorrow.
Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and his Philippine counterpart Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapiliz-Baldoz are scheduled to ink the bilateral labor agreement.
Baldoz arrives today with key Filipino labor officials for the signing, said Labor Attaché Alex Padaen of the Philippine Labor office in Jeddah. The household workers include housemaids, cooks, baby sitters, family drivers and laundrywomen.
Baldoz is accompanied by Hans Leo J. Cacdac, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA); Carmelita Dimzon, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); and Nicon Fameronag, director for government relations at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
In a report, the Saudi Press Agency said that the signing comes after the Saudi Cabinet authorized Fakeih to conclude the agreement, the first of its kind with a country supplying household workers.
Baldoz’s trip to the Kingdom has been postponed twice in the past -- March 3 and April 7 -- because she wanted an agreement ready to sign before she traveled to the Kingdom.
Under the agreement, household service workers should receive a minimum of SR 1,500 a month, a bank account opened by employers, access to communicate with anyone at any time, allowed to leave at the end of the contract or if an emergency arises and 24-hour assistance if needed.
In Manila, Saudi Ambassador to the Philippines Abdullah Al-Hassan said “the drafting of the proposed bilateral labor agreement took so long because it covered extensive provisions.”
“I’m proud to say that this is the first (labor) agreement to be signed by Saudi Arabia with a country sending foreign workers. It covers broad provisions that will regulate the process of sending (Filipino) workers to Saudi,” he said.
The Saudi envoy said the proposed labor agreement with the Philippine government shows that the Kingdom still wants to hire more Filipino workers.
“We continue to strengthen bilateral ties with the Philippines by exerting efforts to widen economic, political and particularly labor relations to ensure the consistent flow of Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia by legal means,” he said.
In 2011, the Kingdom stopped processing, verifying and authenticating the visa applications of Filipino domestic workers, following the enforcement of the Kingdom’s amended laws on migrant workers that requires rules to protect the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic workers.
