JEDDAH, 30 March 2004 — The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah is set to send out a Worksite Service Team, for the next six months, to conduct outreach orientation visits in companies, campsites and hospitals that employ large numbers of Filipino workers.
The team will be tasked to inform OFWs of various beneficial services the government has in store for them.
Labor Attaché Naser Munder said the team would consist of a POLO staff and representatives from Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other government agencies. “They will go from company to company to present a range of institutional programs through orientation briefings, on-the-spot services to workers (who wish to avail of these programs), and conduct a question and answer forum on the Saudi Labor and Workmen Law to inform our workers of the protection available to them.”
By knowing their rights, POLO hopes to empower OFWs. Consequently, these OFWs will be able to act rationally, and not arbitrarily, in case of labor or contract disputes with their employers. At present, the first instinct of OFWs when there is conflict between them and their employers is to abandon their workplaces and seek refuge at the Philippine Consulate.
When advised to return to their workplaces, OFWs often feel that the government is not helping them at all. OFWs must understand that if they abandon their workplaces it would give their employers a valid excuse to make life miserable for them.
Munder said: “POLO expects to assist more workers with the formation of the Worksite Service Team that will be reaching out to OFWs in the Western Region covering the areas of Makkah, Taif, Abha, Bisha, Gizan, Samtha, Yanbu, Madinah, Rabigh, Najran, Hofuf, Tabuk, Jizan and the city of Jeddah.”
Munder also reported that the POLO in Jeddah “assisted around 333 distressed workers for the month of January 2004 alone which resulted in recovering monetary claims, representing unpaid salaries and benefits on behalf of the OFWs, in the amount of SR365,675 (around P5.34 million) for the same period.”
