The offices and companies of domestic workers face several challenges in starting the recruitment process again in terms of the time required to start work, as well as the expected increase in recruitment costs, which are expected to jump by up to 50 percent to reach prices of KD1400 to KD1500 dinars, Al Rai daily reported.
In this regard, Bassam Al-Shammari, owner of several labor recruitment companies, stated that 60 percent of the domestic workers brought to Kuwait come from the Philippines, as workers of that nationality represent the backbone of the business, and constitute the highest demand rate in the market.
Elaborating on the first problem facing domestic workers of that nationality is that after the signing of the agreement between Kuwait and the Philippines regarding regulating labor last year, he said the adoption of the job order signed between the foreign office and the Kuwaiti offices as a mechanism and a prerequisite for starting recruitment, the legal validity of all the Job orders needs to be renewed, after the suspension of activity during the past year.
He indicated that the renewal of the job order would require additional procedures and time, which would delay the recruitment process until the necessary procedures are completed.
Al-Shammari mentioned that the other problem is related to the ministerial decision issued by the Ministry of Commerce
1 – Outside offices, the world has experienced changes due to the threat of the Coronavirus having affected all activities. Subsequently, new requirements have arisen that bring added costs to their services, which means there are extras added to the cost of bringing in domestic workers, which is not possible. Local offices may intervene and are subject to the decision of external offices, especially the costs of training and support before coming to Kuwait under the precautionary measures.
2 – Health requirements, as the recruitment of domestic workers, has become determined by the mechanism adopted by those in charge of the Belsalamah.com platform, in which the prices of the return of domestic workers were determined in terms of PCR tests, the cost of institutional quarantine and travel tickets.
3 – Changing the ticketing mechanism, the followed mechanism is that travel tickets are borne by the external office, and in light of Kuwait’s determining a fixed price for travel tickets and the requirement of procedures through the platform, the matter requires the provision of a mechanism for charging the cost of tickets to the external offices.
Based on these data, Al-Shammari concluded that the costs of recruiting domestic workers will inevitably rise by between 40 and 50 percent to between KD1400 to KD1500 dinars for a domestic worker, which requires the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) to reconsider the decision to determine the costs of recruiting workers or suspending recruitment until the end of the pandemic conditions.
Kuwait and Ethiopia
Al-Shammari touched on delaying the agreement on domestic workers between Kuwait and Ethiopia, calling on the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) to do its duty to terminate all contracts related to the agreement, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to overcome difficulties and ratify the final agreement with the Ethiopian side, as well as with the Philippine side, because of its impact. This is the interest of the stability of the domestic labor market, so that the decision to open recruitment is applicable.
The visa is 4 months instead of 3
Al-Shammari mentioned that the precautionary measures in the countries where domestic workers are recruited will extend the period of recruitment from the country relatively, especially in the Philippines where there are areas affected by the coronavirus, which requires the request of the Ministry of Interior to issue a visa for domestic workers for a period of 4 months instead of 3 months.
The role of ‘safety’
Concerned sources revealed that the role of the Belsalamah.com platform in the process of bringing domestic workers to Kuwait will be similar to the same role that the platform plays with regard to facilitating the domestic workers’ direct return from high-risk countries to Kuwait, as the platform can be easily linked to the offices of recruiting domestic workers.
The relevant government agencies now possess the necessary expertise in this regard, in cooperation with the “National Aviation Services” (NAS) company responsible for the platform, as the connection procedures required to resume recruiting new domestic workers will not be difficult.
The sources indicated that this is due to the fact that the platform is already ready and is working on returning domestic workers to Kuwait to resume their jobs normally, in accordance with the required health precautionary measures, which can be possibly implemented automatically when recruiting domestic workers again.
The role of the platform will be linked to the implementation of the health procedures, including the necessary PCR tests and airline tickets, as well as the mandatory institutional quarantine for workers for a period of 14 days starting from the date of their arrival in Kuwait, until the final PCR test and their exit from quarantine, to start their other procedures with the various state agencies.