Crisis averted over housemaids

The Sri Lankan government this week agreed to reduce the new minimum wage limit of US$200 per month for domestic workers in the Middle East to $180 for a 6-month period till July as a temporary measure to sort out technical difficulties faced by recruitment agents in enforcing the new rule.

Foreign Employment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the decision was made after a high powered delegation from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait arrived this week for urgent consultations with the government over the new wage levels.

The government earlier announced that the minimum wage per month for domestic workers would be $200 from January 2008 onwards. The rule however caught recruitment agents overseas napping and led to a suspension of visas for contracts already finalized.“We agreed to suspend the earlier decision purely on technical grounds as the delegation said there had been contracts that were agreed on earlier terms.

Thus because of the technical difficulties we consented to adjusting the wage level for a period of six months. After July, we’ll enforce the $200 (750 Saudi Riyals) minimum wage,” he told The Sunday Times FT.

However the two delegates representing Saudi and Kuwait, in an interview on Friday, said they were not prepared to go beyond the $180 (650 Riyals) even after July. “We have also said that this wage (650 Riyals) would be given only if the worker fulfils certain conditions,” asserted Saad N. Al Baddah, Chairman of the Saudi Arabia National Recruitment Committee after the meeting with the minister.

He and Abdul Aziz Al-Ali, Chairman of the Kuwaiti Union of Domestic Labour Offices said recruitment could fall sharply if the Sri Lankan government stuck to its demand for a $200 minimum wage.

“Employers will look elsewhere because in the case of the Sri Lankan workers they are not aware of their contract terms, fall sick in the first few months of the job and don’t complete their contract on time,” said Baddah who is also Chairman of the Recruitment Committee of the GCC (Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf —Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Al-Ali is Vice Chairman of the same group.

Baddah said Sri Lankan migrants are considered good workers and less troublesome unlike others from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam of Bangladesh but the main problem was that they broke their contract and often were not able to operate an iron or a washing machine.

“They don’t also understand the contract, that they have to serve a specified period,” he said, adding that if not, employers were prepared to pay more.

There are more than 500,000 Sri Lankans in Saudi with some 300,000 working as domestics. While for the moment a major crisis has been averted with this week’s decision, both sides are not willing to budge from their positions after July.

“Our workers must get a minimum wage of $200 from July,” insists Rambukwella. Baddah and his colleague say they are not willing to pay anything more than $180 and even now that applies to those who are suitably trained. “Sri Lanka will lose badly if this wage limit is not changed and employers will look for workers from other sources,” Baddah said.