Roshan Sedhai

Disparity between wage and departure costs major factor

Given the exploitation that migrant workers face from overseas employment agents, it takes at least seven months for the workers to make enough money to pay off their departure costs. In addition to the exploitation they face before leaving, upon arriving workers are treated shabbily with meagre wages, long hours of overtime and a lack of even the most basic facilities, making it even more difficult to pay back high-interest loans. While most workers are compelled to pay Rs 100,000 to 200,000 as departure costs, their earnings hardly amount to Rs 15,000 to 25,000 a month. Nepali workers receive comparatively less salaries than their Filipino, Indian or Sri Lankan counterparts. Santosh Rai of Khotang is currently preparing to go to Malaysia, paying almost double the amount fixed by the government. Rai, who is leaving through an overseas employment agency that his relatives own, paid Rs 125,000. As per the agreement signed, he will earn around Rs 17,000 a month working for a department store. "An additional Rs 30,000 has been spent making documents, a passport, travelling, lodging and food," said Rai. Rai claimed he was aware that the maximum cost to go to Malaysia for employment had been fixed at Rs 80,000 by the government. "I consulted a few other companies but their rate is marginally above Rs 125,000. I felt more secure going through the person I know. Many of my friends who went to Malaysia paid similar amounts," said Rai. Notwithstanding the minimum wage and maximum departure cost provisions fixed by the government, workers like Rai are still being victimised by the unmonitored foreign employment industry. A huge disparity in wages and departure costs for the unskilled workers generally means that it takes eight months to a year to pay back loans incurred with interest. A report from Amnesty International claimed that workers borrow money at interest rates as high as 35 percent. Surya Tamang of Dhading returned to Nepal after working in Saudi Arabia for four years. Earning only Rs 13,000 a month, Tamang, who worked for a construction company, said it took him more than a year to pay back his debts. He intends to go to Dubai next time. "This is necessary to feed my family and educate my children. I have neither work nor enough land for farming," said Tamang, a father of two. He hopes to settle in Nepal after working for the next three years. The government has made provisions for a minimum wage of Rs 16,000 for Malaysia, Rs 15,000 for Qatar (excluding food and accommodations), Rs 25,000 for Saudi Arabia (including food and accommodations) and Rs 17,000 for the United Arab Emirates. However, the Malaysian government has yet to implement its latest increment of the basic salary. The minimum wages were fixed following recommendation from stakeholders including Nepali embassies. The embassies claim that if wages are increased, migrants will be less likely to work illegally. "Workers usually leave their jobs and become illegal due to low salaries. We expect this trend to fall to a large extent," said Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Udaya Raj Pandey. Additionally, according to the government officials, workers need only pay a maximum of Rs 80,000 for Malaysia and Rs 70,000 for Gulf countries. Despite this decree, many workers are being fleeced out of thousands by overseas employment agencies. Many agents cheat workers by handing them double contracts with variable salaries. Officials at the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) accepted that workers were highly exploited. They said that the latest revision in minimum wages was in favour of the workers. While the wage increment will apply to new migrant workers, around 2.5 million current workers will be excluded. "We are slowly working on increasing wages. We have been exploring new markets and working to save workers from exploitation," said DoFE head Purna Chandra Bhattarai. According to the 2011 World Bank Report, remittance constitutes 20 percent of the country's GDP.

The embassies claim that if wages are increased, migrant workers will be less likely to work illegally

 Published on: 30 August 2012 | The Kathmandu Post