THE government is all set to sign agreements with Malaysia and Lebanon on the recruitment of Nepali workers. The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management said that a high-level team led by the minister or a secretary would visit these countries to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU). Even though Malaysia is the largest employer of Nepali workers, the Nepal government has not signed any labour agreement with it. The absence of a pact has been creating hurdles to outsourcing agencies and outbound workers besides making it difficult to address the rights of Nepali workers. Similarly, following increasing complaints of housemaids suffering exploitation at the workplace, the government had moved to sign a labour agreement with Lebanon about 10 months ago.

“The Ministry of Finance has made a commitment to provide the required budget and Malaysia and Lebanon have finished reviewing a draft of the agreement,” said Krishna Hari Pushkar Karna, assistant spokesperson and under secretary at the Labour Ministry. He added that work on concluding a labour pact had slowed down because of the current political situation. “Since we have no embassy in Lebanon, the signing of the pact will help us to deal with affairs related to workers and ensure their legal rights,” said Chandra Man Shrestha, acting director general of the Department of Foreign Employment. He added that once the agreement is signed, the two countries would be legally bound to assume responsibility for the workers as agreed in the pact. A few years ago, the Nepal government had unilaterally fixed the basic salary of workers leaving for Malaysia at 546 ringgits. However, as Malaysia has been offering a minimum salary of 481 ringgits, outsourcing agencies have been found making fake job contracts to get approval from the Department of Foreign Employment. “Around 50 percent of Malaysian firms pay the salary set by Nepal following a labour crunch caused by the financial crisis of last year,” said Kumud Khanal, general secretary of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies. He added that the government should incorporate in the accord provisions for 24-hour insurance, right to change jobs if the hiring firm closes down or gœs bankrupt, payment of salaries through banking channels even though the firm is located in a remote area and standardisation of the basic salary.

There are an estimated 500,000 plus Nepalis in Malaysia working in different fields, and most of them are unskilled or semi-skilled. Similarly, in Lebanon, there are an estimated 20,000 plus Nepali workers with most of them working as domestic help or housemaids. The association said that housemaids who have reached Lebanon illegally through personal contacts were facing problems with regard to their professional rights in the absence of legal protection through a labour pact. “There are cases of abuse of housemaids who are normally on duty round the clock,” said Khanal. He added that the government must sign an agreement to fix the basic salary of housemaids at US$ 250, arrange payment of s a l a r i e s through banks and ensure inspection of the situation of workers at least every three months besides them providing SIM cards and a special hotline for keeping in touch. According to the Foreign Employment Act, the government is required to sign labour pacts with major labour destinations to ensure the welfare of Nepali workers. So far, the government has signed labour pacts with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, South Korea for sending workers under Employment Permit System and Japan to send Nepali industrial trainees to Japan. The government is also considering signing a labour agreement with Oman and starting direct flights. Even though Malaysia is the largest employer of Nepali workers, the Nepal government has not signed any labour agreement with it.

Published on: 23 May 2011 | The Kathmandu Post