Reaction paper on an economic issue

Saudi Arabia bans domestic workers from the Philippines

06/30/2011 | 09:04 AM 

Updated 2:50 p.m. — Starting July 2, Saudi Arabia will no longer issue work visas for domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia because of its labor rows with the two countries.

“The Ministry of Labor will stop issuing work visas for domestic workers for the Philippines and Indonesia from Saturday (July 2)," Hattab Bin Saleh Al-Anzi, a spokesman for the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor said, according to report on news site Arab News.

The decision of the Saudi government will affect 180,000 domestic workers in Saudi, or about 15 percent of more than 1.2 million Filipinos working there.

According to the report, Al-Anzi said the ministry decided to stop hiring domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia after the two countries imposed stricter conditions on prospective Saudi employers.

New contracts made by the Philippines require foreign employers of Filipino domestic helpers to pay a minimum wage of $400 a month.

The Philippine government has also urged employers to provide family information and the layout of the residence where the domestic helper will be working.

The Arab News said the Saudi government wanted the Philippine government to alter these requirements in the labor contracts of Filipino domestic workers.

On April 27, the Saudi Arabia sent a delegation to the Philippines to negotiate the labor dispute, but talks broke down, the report said.

The report said Philippine Embassy in Riyadh labor attaché Albert Valenciano expressed his sadness over the Saudi government’s decision on Wednesday.

Valenciano said the embassy had sent a “note verbale" (verbal message) to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 19 requesting for a meeting. It, however, had not received a response so far.








source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/224839/pinoy-abroad/saudi-arabia-bans-domestic-workers-from-the-phl

Reaction paper on an economic issue...

Reflection:

At first, my reaction was like this “!?!!!!?”. The news was very shocking to me. I know that a lot of people from Philippines go abroad to work and most of them are in Saudi Arabia. I think it is unfair for the Filipinos to be banned from working in Saudi Arabia. I think that the Saudi Arabian government believes Filipinos are inferior to them so, they can easily fire them and send them home. This issue will affect the lives of Filipino people as well as the economy of the Philippines. When the workers come home, they have no jobs therefore; the government has to help them find new jobs. As for the economy, relationship between the two countries, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, will change and therefore, will result in decline of Philippine’s economy.  I hope that something could be done about this issue because a lot of people are going to be affected. And hopefully, things will get better between the two countries so that the economy will boost in the future. 

...J