FEATURE-5R’s in labour migration in the COVID-19 era

By Andrew Samuel, Community Development Services (CDS)

The 5R’s – Retrenchment-Repatriation-Return-Reintegration and Re-migration - is the labour migration cycle in the COVID-19 era.  Public health and a global pandemic are concerns to citizens as the COVID virus has come to stay in our lives. Many are feeling the strain, as mass scale layoffs, wage deductions, social and physical distancing, lockdowns, and indefinite closure of businesses have affected the lives of the migrant workers. These stressful times have brought about mental health concerns and anxieties among populations and more so among standard migrant workers.

We also must realise that low skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers are not in a position to follow COVID prevention and protection guidelines as staying at home and working and social and physical distancing are not options to them. Their workplace and living places are hotbeds for contracting the COVID virus.
About 42,000 “overseas Sri Lankans”, a majority of whom are migrant workers across the world registered with the “Contact Sri Lanka” web portal launched by the Ministry of Foreign Relations in English only to return home and for other emergency services. We are informed that about 4,000-5000 “overseas Sri Lankans’ were selected by the COVID-19 Task Force and were brought to the country.
Many returnees from Kuwait were found to be COVID positive. The Government immediately suspended flight operations stating that there are limited quarantine facilities in the country. This was and continues to be the plight of migrant workers. Many reports are stating that hundreds of migrant workers in the Gulf corridor are infected with the virus and needing healthcare assistance urgently.
In the labour migration sector in Sri Lanka, elsewhere in Asia and around the world, there have been mass scale layoffs and migrant workers are being compelled to work for reduced wages and remain without work for uncertain periods. These are fundamental contract violations. They violate the principles of labour and human rights. They live in uncertainty and worry. They worry about their left behind families and the inability to remit money to their homes. They worry about retrenchment and repatriation. They worry about economic livelihood once repatriated.

These situations have brought about untold economic distress among the migrant community as their means of remittance transfers and wages have suddenly been snatched away from them indefinitely and in some cases permanently leaving them with no choice but to return home and face further economic, social and health consequences. Many would return home to face the burdens of debt bondage as they would have to pay back the loans that they would have obtained for their recruitment.

The dignity of many thousands of migrant workers have been robbed with the loss of jobs, nowhere to go, no food in many cases and unable to come home as their pleas are overlooked. Migrant workers have been disproportionately disadvantaged by origin and host countries alike.

Retrenchment and Repatriation

The most concerned categories of migrant workers are those who have completed their labour contracts and are stranded in the country of destination. The other category are those who are distressed undocumented workers as their labour contracts have been violated by their employers, who have been subjected to disputes and abuses and are languishing in crowded safe houses or detention centres. Most of these workers have got their passports impounded with little recourse available to them. Next are undocumented and freelance workers who opted to travel on visit visas and who are now languishing in their living quarters stranded with no work.

The COVID situation created many thousands of migrant workers to be laid off contracted work. Some have had their wages slashed for indefinite periods and are unable to make ends meet or even remit money to meet their home and household expenses. They too are stranded. These are the categories migrant workers who are highly stressed and desperate to return home.

Authorities have failed to find a decent resolution to their workplace grievances. Instead, they are either detained or offered an amnesty using threatening and intimidating tactics to be deported from the destination country. Very often, migrants who accept the amnesties are those who have failed to find resolution to their workplace issues and don’t possess travel documents. Many of them return home empty-handed.

Those migrants who have thrown the towel wanting to return home face unemployment consequences as the state has no unemployment welfare policy that would keep them economically and socially alive, at least for a while.

The COVID situation has created psychological stresses and trauma among migrant workers. In 2019 worker remittances was US$6.7 billion. Sri Lanka has felt the stress in no uncertain terms as our labour remittances have fallen drastically in the past few months and it is expected that our remittances will fall by about 10 per cent or more in 2020.

Return and Reintegration

Migrant workers returning home during the COVID period must undergo a quarantine for 14 days and sometimes for 21 days and hospitalization if need be. Many Sri Lankan migrant workers have been found to be infected in the Gulf corridor. Many have been found to be infected on returning home.

The stress and anxiety of living in fear of contracting the COVID virus and the concern that family members could be infected, the loss of economic status and the lockdown and new labour guidelines and laws in the destination country are factors that bring migrants back home.

In this COVID pandemic migrant workers are confronted as carriers of the virus at both the destination country and in the origin country on return. This has brought about social stigma and discrimination in society and in their own communities that further impedes their reintegration plans.

We are not sure to what extent migrant workers manage the trauma from this experience of either contracting the COVID virus or being dismissed from the workplace and how they are coping at reintegration. Such traumatic moments must not be overlooked as they have long-term consequences if not addressed through psychosocial counselling.

We are also not certain for how long migrant workers will remain in unemployment without welfare measures to support their needs. Migrant workers want to be active participants of the socioeconomic well-being of the nation. In these circumstances they need a helping hand.

Migrant workers need guidance at reintegration no matter what their migration status would be. Many undocumented migrant workers find that their grievances are not addressed. Many are compelled to accept amnesties and return home empty-handed. What plans does the government have to bring them back to society and offer them economic empowerment and livelihood?

Re-migration

Migrant workers will seek re-migration especially if economic activity and policy in the country are not promising. The post COVID period will create new employment opportunities in host countries for their economic revival.

We also have reason to believe that migrants gain skills enhancement and recognition on the job and that the opportunity to save is a lot greater in a host country that makes re-migration an attraction.

While nations will compete for a stake in labour stock and remittance earnings, one must carefully observe the new contracts and country to country negotiations and evaluate the offerings. Question is, will origin governments effectively negotiate for the rights of migrant workers and living wage thresholds with the destination country counterparts?

Given the present recruitment trends, will migrant workers opt for migrating through private means to avoid the high recruitment costs? How will origin country governments address this concern and what would be the revenue loss in such instances?

The Government has failed to listen to migrant voices and pleas during this COVID pandemic. Their contribution to national economies tend to be recognised only during election time when they are given hero status as heroes of economic development. These have become bogus and hollow in the very eyes of migrant workers.

The government and our diplomatic missions have an obligation on the part of migrant workers to negotiate labour migration once the COVID pandemic has been brought under control. Our mission offices should play a more active role in negotiating re-migration strategies on behalf of the labour migration community.

Recommendations

* We urge the government to listen to migrant worker voices and address their repatriation pleas without further delay and without excuses. Make available quarantine centres and step up the testing. Address any social stigma and discrimination issues.

* We urge the Government to consider making compensation payments to the most affected migrant returnees through the SLBFE welfare programme or other government welfare programmes such as the “Ithukama” fund.

* Make available psychosocial counselling for migrant returnees and their families and ensure the government stimulus programme covers all migrant returnees during this COVID era irrespective of their migration status that include undocumented migrant workers and amnesty returnees to receive the unemployment welfare package without political bias.

* Develop a government sponsored employment web portal for migrant returnees to register and make themselves available for employment either locally or in the open foreign labour market. Make sure the recruitment industry has access to the web portal and that placements are made to contracts and living wages.

* As a re-migration strategy offer migrant returnees upskilling opportunities to internationally recognised NVQ standards through government vocational and skills training institutes free of cost.

* We encourage the government to develop a well thought out social enterprise programme for the skilled and enterprising individuals outside the mandate of the SME scheme or the failed micro enterprise scheme. We recommend that migrant returnees are given the opportunity to make use of the scheme at extremely low interest rates.

* Finally, as the COVID-19 virus is brought under control and the lockdown is completely removed and the economy begins its new journey of progress and growth, we urge the Government to use its diplomatic means to negotiate fresh new contracts, new MoU’s and new bilateral agreements within a rights based framework including living wages based on skills and insurance schemes that cover unexpected calamities such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We also propose that the Government negotiates a bilateral welfare fund to address the unexpected layoffs by compensating migrant workers during such events.

* We also propose that the Government expedites the social security plan that has been under discussion for many years by successive governments.

* In conclusion, migrant workers contribute to the success of nations and contribute to the success of economies. Their resilience, flexibility and adaptability make them a labour force to reckon with. Nations must recognise and acknowledge their skills and contributions. Nations must also respect their dignity as they are ready to accept new opportunities in the post COVID period. Migrant workers are nation builders.