Migrant group says DOLE missing point on OFW layoffs
D'JAY LAZARO, GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s plan to send an "advance reintegration team" to Taiwan to assist Filipino workers who lose their jobs is not impressive enough to an affiliate of migrant workers group Migrante International.
Migrante - Middle East on Thursday said the plan only shows the government’s “lack of understanding of the effect of the global financial crisis that is now adversely affecting thousand of migrant workers and their families."
"This ‘advance reintegration team’ being organized by the Labor Department is nothing but to cover the vicious effect of the Arroyo administration’s labor export policy - the sell-out of cheap OFW labor amid continuous violations and attack on OFWs rights and welfare," said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.
Monterona noted that while Labor Secretary Marianito Roque keeps denying that OFWs would be adversely affected by the global financial crisis, “he is desperate" in looking for new labor markets and renewing labor agreements with other countries despite prior knowledge that OFWs are at a disadvantage.
"The answer to the problem of OFWs being laid off due to global financial crisis is not finding new labor markets or resurrecting old labor agreements, but by making the local economy strong and vibrant," Monterona said.
"What could the Labor Department’s reintegration team do in a foreign land if in its own country it cannot provide jobs with decent wages to the millions of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos back home?" Monterona asked.
He also dismissed as a “band-aid solution" the livelihood assistance provided by the Arroyo administration to laid-off OFWs.
'"We doubt if these amount (provided for livelihood) would surely benefit and go to laid-off OFWs, and not to the pocket of corrupt government officials," he added.
"The Arroyo administration must squarely face the bitter reality and accept wholeheartedly the fact that the mass lay-offs. Only then can it better understand the effect of the global economic crisis and realize that its large-scale labor exportation is sham and vicious, and must be stopped," Monterona said. - GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s plan to send an "advance reintegration team" to Taiwan to assist Filipino workers who lose their jobs is not impressive enough to an affiliate of migrant workers group Migrante International.
Migrante - Middle East on Thursday said the plan only shows the government’s “lack of understanding of the effect of the global financial crisis that is now adversely affecting thousand of migrant workers and their families."
"This ‘advance reintegration team’ being organized by the Labor Department is nothing but to cover the vicious effect of the Arroyo administration’s labor export policy - the sell-out of cheap OFW labor amid continuous violations and attack on OFWs rights and welfare," said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.
Monterona noted that while Labor Secretary Marianito Roque keeps denying that OFWs would be adversely affected by the global financial crisis, “he is desperate" in looking for new labor markets and renewing labor agreements with other countries despite prior knowledge that OFWs are at a disadvantage.
"The answer to the problem of OFWs being laid off due to global financial crisis is not finding new labor markets or resurrecting old labor agreements, but by making the local economy strong and vibrant," Monterona said.
"What could the Labor Department’s reintegration team do in a foreign land if in its own country it cannot provide jobs with decent wages to the millions of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos back home?" Monterona asked.
He also dismissed as a “band-aid solution" the livelihood assistance provided by the Arroyo administration to laid-off OFWs.
'"We doubt if these amount (provided for livelihood) would surely benefit and go to laid-off OFWs, and not to the pocket of corrupt government officials," he added.
"The Arroyo administration must squarely face the bitter reality and accept wholeheartedly the fact that the mass lay-offs. Only then can it better understand the effect of the global economic crisis and realize that its large-scale labor exportation is sham and vicious, and must be stopped," Monterona said. - GMANews.TV
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