Recruitment Agencies Divided over the call to ban Filipino Workers

“Manpower agencies in Bahrain are in a split following a GCC union’s pronouncement last week that they would ask their governments to stop the hiring of Filipino workers.

The “boycott call” was made by the GCC Union of Manpower Agencies.
But even local recruiters say the call had its drawbacks and will not solve the original point of disagreement between the manpower agencies and the Philippine government: the raising of salaries and tight hiring procedures imposed by Manila .

“I do not think the GCC governments will take such a very radical approach,” said a local recruiter who was once active with the Bahrain Recruiters Society.
“The agencies will only lose out on this issue and soon enough they will lose their business,” said the recruiter referring to the manpower agencies.

Despite the union’s claims as the new “superbody” in the recruitment industry, not all manpower agencies from the different countries are affiliated with the union.
Heads of three major manpower agencies in Bahrain had told the Tribune they are not members of the union but they requested the names of their companies not be published.

“The call to ban will go nowhere. There is always a high demand for Filipino workers because they are skilled and a lot of them can communicate well in English,” said the head of one of the agencies.

The union’s officials met in Manama last week and pronounced that they will recommend to their respective governments to ban the hiring of Filipino workers. The measure was in retaliation to the Philippine government’s imposition of a $400 salary for GCC-bound housemaids.

They are also protesting new requirements set by Manila including asking sponsors to divulge family background in data forms they needed to fill up before they can be allowed to hire a housemaid.

Officials of the manpower agencies union insisted they had made the right move and they will gain the support of the GCC governments.

“Our resolution will hold. We did it because we had time and again asked for negotiations with the Philippine Embassy over the issue of the housemaids but they had not responded to our requests,” said Bahrain Recruiters Society chairman Fareed Al Mahmeed.” (Titus Filio - Contributor)

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