DOLE to negotiate with employers of distressed OFWs in Poland

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will try to negotiate with the employers of the 96 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Poland who were earlier reported to have encountered some labor problems.

“DOLE would try to negotiate with their employers," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. said in a recent press conference.

The 96 Filipino workers earlier complained of contract substitution, reduction of agreed salaries, sickness due to inadequate food provision, and heavy work. [See: Help urged for 96 distressed OFWs in Poland.]

Conejos said 71 of the Filipino workers have refused to work due to a “labor-related incident," prompting the DFA to dispatch a consul from Budapest in Hungary to the industrial town of Aleksandrow Lodzki in Poland.

He said that the OFWs who have stopped working are still staying with their employer – two of whom said they will try to resolve the dispute.

Conejos said he has asked Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to send a labor attaché from London to Poland to bring the necessary funds to provide food and clothing for the workers.

Conejos added that he has also requested Roque to deploy two more DOLE officials from Manila to look into the incident in Poland.

However, if things are not settled, the undersecretary said that they will be forced to bring the OFWs back to the country. - With Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

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