New deal on PHL domestic helpers in UAE eyed

The Philippines and the United Arab Emirates may soon draw up an agreement outlining the rights of Filipino household workers there, Philippine Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has said.

A report on UAE news site Khaleej Times Saturday quoted Baldoz as saying that while the Philippines and UAE already have a memorandum of understanding on the subject, the UAE wants a separate agreement for household workers.

Baldoz said the MOU would also outline other processes including:

- the legal procedures to bring Filipino workers to the UAE
- ethical recruitment fees
- provisions on contract substitution
- qualifications
before the workers go to the UAE
- necessary training
- health issues
- dispute settlement
- terms and conditions of employment
- implementation protocol.

The report indicated the agreement may also require employers to open salary accounts for the workers, and allow workers to call their families.

But Baldoz also said there is a need to change the image and perception of Filipino workers, as many believed most of them were maids.

She said statistics showed only 10 percent or 6,500 of the more than 650,000 OFWs in the country worked and lived as household helpers.

“More than 90 percent of the OFWs in UAE, especially in Dubai, are professionals and skilled workers,” she said.

Baldoz spent Friday at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to have lunch with distressed household workers who sought refuge at the Philippine Consulate in Dubai.

She also met with Filipino community leaders and representatives.

On Saturday, she was to leave Dubai for Jeddah to sign a memorandum of understanding on household workers.

This followed negotiations after the Philippines stopped processing deployment of household helpers to Saudi Arabia years back. — LBG, GMA News

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