A
top official in the Philippines Labour Department has said that the country’s government
is close to agreeing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would set the minimum wage
for Filipino nationals working in the kingdom at US$300.
An
agreement would see an end to Saudi Arabia’s current ban on Filipinos coming to
work in the Gulf nation.
The
Manila Standard Daily quoted Danilo Cruz, Philippines Labour Undersecretary, as
saying the Asian country had sought a minimum salary of US$400 per month,
significantly higher than the US$260 offered by Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia
stopped issuing visas for domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia
after those governments attempted to impose stricter conditions on Saudi
employers, such as higher minimum pay and better working conditions.
Filipino Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has
reassured the public that the wellbeing of Filipino domestics would be
protected under the new agreement, the newspaper reported.
The Philippines government estimates there are
more than 1.2m Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia, of which about 15
percent or 180,000 are maids or drivers.
Earlier
this month, it was reported that Saudi Arabia plans to import 45,000 Ethiopian nationals into the kingdom
every month in order to meet its requirement for domestic workers.
Maids from
the African nation have been in high demand since the Gulf’s most populous
nation placed a ban on recruiting workers from the Philippines and Indonesia
after those countries imposed stricter employment conditions
Follow us on
