MANILA: The Philippines has signed a new labor agreement with Qatar to protect the rights and welfare of Filipino domestic workers, its Department of Migrant Workers said on Friday.
The majority of over 2 million overseas Filipinos live and work in Gulf countries, most of whom are based in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qatar employs around 250,000, who contribute about $900 million in annual remittance inflows to the Philippines.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac was in Doha earlier this week to discuss labor cooperation and the recruitment of Filipino workers with Qatari Minister of Labor Dr. Ali bin Samikh Al-Marri.
“An agreement for a unified contract for domestic workers has been reached. This is the first of its kind in Qatar,” Cacdac said on Friday.
Under the agreement, Filipino domestic workers in Qatar will be employed under a unified contract, in which employment terms are jointly recognized by both governments to ensure stronger protection and fair treatment.
“The Qatari and Philippines sides will honor only one contract, and this one lays down the terms and conditions of employment: humane treatment of our OFW household service workers, with annual leave, weekly rest day, daily rest period, fair wages and access to justice or a complaints mechanism if, unfortunately, problems arise for our domestic workers,” Cacdac said.
The new deal also reduces the probationary period for Filipino domestic workers, strictly prohibits any salary deduction and requires employers to shoulder the cost of workers’ return travel from Qatar to the Philippines after two years of service.
The Philippines is committed “to continue constructive dialogue and cooperation” in developing additional agreements, the DMW added.
“These efforts aim to further strengthen bilateral labor relations, safeguard the rights and welfare of workers, and promote a transparent, fair and mutually beneficial partnership,” it said.
The unified contract agreement is a “positive development” in Philippine-Qatar labor relations, especially in addressing long-standing issues of substituted contracts, said Arnold Mamaclay, president of the Philippine Employment Agencies and Associates for Corporate Employees in the Middle East.
“It’s a significant step forward in safeguarding the rights and welfare of our household service workers. This way, at least we can eliminate substitution of contract and exploitation. That’s usually where the problems come from — contract substitution,” he told Arab News.
“This way, there won’t be any confusion if there’s a labor complaint, because it’s the unified contract that will be followed. Right now, there are conflicts in Qatar and Philippine laws, especially when it comes to certain termination clauses and things like that. So it’s really good that we now have a unified contract.”
