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Nearly 70,000 migrant workers in 137 countries awaiting departure
As many as 69,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers are awaiting repatriation from 137 countries, with many people pleading with the Government to bring them back to Sri Lanka, due to difficulties they are currently facing.
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) had been instructed by Foreign Employment Minister Priyankara Jayaratne to distribute funds to migrant workers within the next two weeks, to compensate repatriation expenses.
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament last week that so far 61,750 Lankans have been repatriated.
He also revealed that 89 workers have died from the virus. The number that came back from West Asia alone is 31,102. Many of them were affected by the pandemic, he said.
The Minister also admitted that the price of air tickets had risen. He blamed this on various increased costs that airlines had to bear which were passed on to passengers.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) had been instructed by Foreign Employment Minister Priyankara Jayaratne to distribute funds to workers within the next two weeks. These funds were to be given to meet compensation payments to cover repatriation expenses of migrant workers.
“When workers do not have banks accounts that we can transfer the money to, we will be organising common pickup locations for towns and even doorstep distribution will be done to dispense the funds over the next two weeks,” he said.
The SLBFE had recently been criticised by stranded workers for not using its insurance fund to facilitate repatriation. However, SLBFE General Manager and Spokesperson Mangala Randeniya said, the insurance and welfare funds of the Bureau can only legally be released to workers registered with the Bureau who were not able to obtain their return ticket from their employer as per the employment contract they signed.
In most instances, this happened because the employee had unanimously violated the contract with the employer for various reasons. Especially in West Asia, the employer was contractually obligated to pay for the employee’s return ticket when the contract was legally terminated.
However, some employees abandoned their contracts once abroad in pursuit of other jobs. The Bureau had systems in place to facilitate such a change. Nevertheless, many workers elude the system and switch jobs without following due protocol, as there was documentation and cancellation charges involved.
Sixty-three thousand people had been repatriated since the pandemic began, including forty-one thousand migrant workers.
When an employee breached their contract and took up a job without an official release signature from their contractual employer, they lost the legal right to be employed under another employer thereby making their employment illegal in a certain sense. This then exempted the second employer from any responsibility, such as paying for the return ticket, Mr. Randeniya said.
A valid justification was required for the violation of contract by the employee. There were mechanisms in place to assist workers who were subject to harassment and other difficulties, Mr. Randeniya continued: “There are provisions in place to safeguard our workers who are genuinely in difficult situations.”
A reasonable time allocation of five years was also being provided for the workers to lodge any complaints and request a change of employer. Workers whose contract violations fall out of the legal framework of the Bureau were those that had been illegally employed for over five years. The Bureau could only release funds to those workers who fall into the legal framework of the Bureau’s processes.
“Even so workers have only been asked to pay for their tickets home, the quarantine facilities have been provided free of charge in new centers set up in army training centers,” he said. He added that the Bureau understood that still meant some workers would have to expend all their savings to return.
He told the Sunday Times the State Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion was in the process of setting up a mechanism to expedite the process and compensate workers regardless of their legal status. Funds from the treasury would be used for these processes and there was currently no ceiling on the value that could be spent for the return of these workers. Workers were being misled by influential personalities, Mr. Randeniya also said. While noting that these workers were the Government’s responsibility, he said the violations of terms of contract by the workers results in delays.
“We will protect and take care of our workers even the ones who have violated their contracts and international regulations but we are currently unable to fit them into the welfare schemes that are in existence, but we are working on it as we speak,” he said.
Every worker that wished to be brought back would be brought back reassures the SLBFE.
“We will honour every migrant worker for their contribution to this country’s foreign exchange irrespective of their legal status,” said Mr. Randeniya. He said this would be done carefully, while keeping the well-being of the local community in mind.
In addition to the expenses, a compensation of Rs. 500,000 was also being distributed to the families of migrant workers who had passed away abroad. Twenty-five such claims had been honoured so far.
B. Kandeepan, Director General and Head of the Foreign Ministry’s COVID team said there were two aspects to the issue of people entering the country – the approval and the booking. Anyone entering the country needed the approval of the Foreign Ministry, the Sri Lankan Missions abroad and the General Service Agents of accommodations and airlines.
Four types of flights were currently operative. Scheduled commercial flights transport people generally bring home people that opt for government quarantine, which was completely free. Any returnees coming into government quarantine only had to bear the cost of their plane ticket. The other types include charter and cargo flights which most people book separately as groups under special requests. Returnees using this method opt for the paid quarantine option which means that they would also pay for the mandatory on arrival PCR test that would be administered. The on-arrival PCR test and the 12th day PCR tests were both free of charge for the passengers that use the government quarantine option.
The last type of flight was known as a mercy flight only two of which had been operating since the beginning of the pandemic.
Sixty-three thousand people had been repatriated since the pandemic began. This number included forty-one thousand migrant workers.
Approximately ten scheduled commercial flights come into Sri Lanka per week. The number of scheduled commercial flights was subject to change based on the domestic situation in the country. The second wave had temporarily slowed the number of flights down but things were back on track now, according to the Director.
A majority of the unemployed migrant workers had been brought back with the total figure coming close upon ten thousand workers. Some had continued abroad on concessions like half-pay and the SLBFE had procured extensions of contracts for some. Over 40,000 migrant workers had been brought back so far and over 40,000 more were awaiting repatriation.
Pix by T K G Kapila