UAE rehiring pandemic-displaced OFWs —DOLE

By GISELLE OMBAY, GMA News The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced on Sunday that the United Arab Emirates is reopening its doors for pandemic-displaced OFWs and job seekers. According to Labor Attaché John Rio Bautista of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Dubai the the Dubai Duty Free shops will be rehiring over 600 laid off OFWs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, Dubai Duty Free needed to layoff some workers. But with the revival of the economy here, the management reached out to us and we have a special facilitation for them," he said. "More than 600 Filipino workers will be coming back and their salary is competitive. Every week we process not less than 100 contracts for OFWs who will be rehired,” he added. Aside from the retail sector, Bautista said there were employers who expressed interest in hiring Filipino health professionals. Over 8,000 job orders for household service workers (HSWs) were also verified by POLO since early April and around 6,000 of them have already arrived in Dubai. “The initial implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the Philippines and UAE is really fruitful. The benefits for our HSWs, as instructed by President Duterte, is stated in the comprehensive employment contract. For instance, is the provision of the minimum wage amounting to 1,500 Dirhams [roughly P20,600],” the Labor Attaché said. Further, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III reminded overseas job seekers to go through the proper labor process and to visit the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s website to verify the legitimacy of job offers. On the other hand, Bautista said that POLO Dubai is seeing an increase in the number of OFWs who want to go home for Christmas, noting that the UAE is among the Philippines’ "green list” travel restrictions. He said that around 200 contract verifications by OFWs were processed by POLO daily to make this possible. “This is aside from the Balik Manggagawa or those who will come back to the same employer. They do not need to go personally at the POLO for contract verification. They only need to visit the POEA online portal,” he added. —LBG, GMA News

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