25/07/2022
33001 times read
25/07/2022
33001 times read
KUWAIT CITY, July 25: According to a specialist in domestic labor affairs Bassam Al-Shammari, the stakeholders of Ethiopian domestic labor recruitment offices started visiting the country during the last period through commercial entry visas in order to examine the labor market, and conclude initial contracts with local offices for the recruitment and use of labor. This step heralds a breakthrough in the matter of the Kuwaiti-Ethiopian memorandum of understanding regulating the recruitment of workers from Ethiopia, reports Aljarida daily. Al-Shammari explained that the Ethiopian embassy in the country is about to open its new headquarters in Funaitees area.
This is expected to happen in August. It will pave the way for the opening of a new market for the recruitment of labor to fill the severe shortage that Kuwait is currently experiencing. Many local recruitment offices are waiting for the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the two sides, and then the conclusion of initial recruitment contracts known as “job order” with their counterparts in Addis Ababa. Allowing the recruitment of Ethiopian workers would strike a balance in the market, and solve the problems of the shortage of domestic workers that it currently suffers from, especially since the costs of bringing in these workers and their salaries are low, and will not burden the citizens and residents.
Meanwhile, Al-Shammari revealed that a decision was issued by the Philippines to raise the age of recruitment of female workers to 24 years instead of 23 years. He indicated that the biggest difficulty facing recruitment at the present time is the increase in the prices of airline tickets, which jumped to exaggerated prices by 300 percent, in light of the continuation of the recent decision of the Ministry of Commerce to limit the costs of recruiting domestic workers to no more than KD 890.
Al-Shammari stressed the need to raise the costs of recruiting such workers, after examining the studies submitted to address the negative effects of the aforementioned decision on the labor market, which constitutes a continuation of the financial losses incurred by offices and companies over the past two years. He called on the relevant government agencies, namely the Ministry of Interior and the Public Authority for Manpower, to issue a decision that will allow domestic workers to move from one employer to another in the event of a labor dispute between the two parties, and the worker’s unwillingness to continue with her sponsor while preserving all her rights guaranteed by law. Al-Shammari insisted that deportation should not be the first step.