Crisis looms in KSA over 'unified contract' scheme

MANILA, Philippines — The recruitment sector has warned of a serious crisis brewing in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Saudi Arabia with the implementation of the "unified contract" scheme by the Saudi Embassy on August 1.

Local recruitment agencies said that unless the Philippine government opposes the scheme, the local overseas recruitment industry would soon be placed under the control of the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom).

Lito Soriano, owner an agency owner deploying workers to Saudi Arabia, said that the unified contract scheme will definitely affect the deployment of Filipino workers since it requires the intervention of a third party to facilitate the processing of visas for OFWs and barring local recruitment companies to directly process the visas of their recruits.

“We see no beneficial result in entering into a contract with a third party like Sanarcom except to add to another layer into the recruitment process which will only add to the recruitment cost of the local agency or the Saudi employer," said Ezekiel Alunen, former member of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) governing board.

Philippine recruitment agencies deal directly with employers but under the new scheme, they will have to pass through a Saudi recruitment agency that is a member of Sanarcom.

Soriano and Alunen said the Sanarcom started pushing for the scheme since 2003 because they’ve been wanting to corner the Philippine market, but the Saudi Embassy had deferred its implementation due to stiff opposition.

On July 18, however, Saudi Embassy issued a circular saying that on Aug. 1, 2008, it will no longer process visas applications by local recruitment agencies unless they provide a copy of a contract with a member of Sanarcom.

“The unified contract scheme has been rejected twice by the industry since 2003 even during the incumbency of former Labor Secretary Pat Sto Tomas and this is the third time that Sanarcom wants to intrude into the labor market through the help of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce," said Soriano and Alunen in a press statement.

With an estimated one million Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi labor market is the biggest employer of Filipinos.

But Soriano and Alunen said many industry associations are considering leaving the Saudi labor market should the Sanarcom scheme be forced through.

Soriano said many former Saudi OFWs are experiencing a Saudi employment fatigue and are slowly moving to other labor markets in the Middle East like Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain countries experiencing a construction boom and are offering higher salaries. - GMANews.TV

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