Head of the Voluntary Committee to Study the Conditions of Domestic Workers in the country, Bassam Al-Shammari, revealed that the number of direct flights coming from the Philippines has increased to 23 during the coming months of August and September, with 13 in August and 10 in September, expecting that these flights will bring more than 5,000 new domestic workers.
Al-Shammari confirmed to Al-Jarida that these large numbers of workers, which will arrive in the country in batches, contribute effectively to solving the acute shortage crisis that the market suffers from, especially coinciding with the start of the new school year in early September, and the announcement by most government agencies of the return of their employees’ shifts at a rate of 100 percent, which increases the demand for this labor, pointing out that the increase in the number of direct trips contributes to reducing the recruitment costs of the “Salama” platform, which currently amounts to 490 dinars for the worker recruited from the Philippines, and 390 for those coming from India, however, these amounts are subject to decrease. by 10 percent.
Al-Shammari indicated that there has been a noticeable increase in the issuance of entry visas for these workers from the three recrutiment countries, “the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Benin,” calling for an increase in the number of PCR laboratories in these countries, to ensure the speedy completion of the procedures for the arrival of these workers as quickly as possible.
He pointed out that if this approach continued the market will recover from the crisis of shortage of this workforce by the end of 2022, reiterating the need for employers to abide by the triple work contract and not to violate its terms, in order to preserve the rights of workers, and to avoid the occurrence of any future problems affecting the recruitment process.
In addition, the Kuwaiti Federation of Owners of Domestic Labor Recruitment Offices held a meeting, via the “Zoom” platform, with its Filipino counterpart, during which the latest developments and developments in the conditions of domestic workers were discussed, especially during the “Corona” pandemic, and the Federation also called on its Filipino counterpart to increase the number of approved medical laboratories for examining “PCR” to enable it to receive a larger number of these workers