IOM to open migrant worker centres in Myanmar
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The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will be opening Migrant Resource Centres in Yangon, Magway and Mawlamyaing in June to help educate workers and provide essential skills.
The IOM is cooperating on this project with Western Union, according to IMO head Kieran Gorman Best. The centres aim to educate migrant workers before they travel overseas and to carry out vocational training for those returning home.
Nearly four million Myanmar migrant workers are now working in neighbouring Thailand. Among them, one million workers are said to be illegal and face issues such as exploitation and harassment.
The IOM is providing cash assistance of about US$ 5 million for more than 20 projects concerning migrant worker issues in Myanmar.
Starting this year, the government has put its focus on developing the basic skills of emigrant workers, on concerns of their low skills and low pay.
On May 8, Deputy Labour Minister Htay Aung also convened a meeting in Mae Sot, Thailand, witha number of non-governmental organisations, to protect the rights of Myanmar migrant workers. He admitted that Myanmar workers in Thailand and Malaysia were entitled for certain rights including social security.
Nine Thai districts, including Mae Sot which is the nearest to border city Myawady, have employed more than 400,000 Myanmar migrants. Some do not earn the Bt300 minimum wage. Some were forced to pay money to police, said Moe Kyoe, member of Labour Affairs Committee, Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok.
In March, Myanmar legalised the export of maids and drawn up rules to better protect its women abroad.
First, Myanmar maids must receive a minimum monthly wage of S$450 (US$353.38). Second, they must get at least a day off in a month, according to Myanmar newspaper reports. Third, their recruitment fees must not exceed four months of their salary.
Besides the new rules, maids will have to attend month-long training programmes in centres in Myanmar, where they will be taught simple English and housekeeping skills, and learn about life in Singapore.
At least 10 training centres have been established since last year, of which two are run by Singapore training course provider Grace Management & Consultancy Services and its Myanmar partners.
Most Myanmar maids in Singapore are paid between S$400 and S$430 and do not get any days off. They are also charged up to eight months of salary - or more than S$3,000 - in recruitment fees, which lets employers pay fees as low as S$300.
In Singapore, since Jan 1 last year, all maids hired or who have their work permits renewed must get a weekly day off or pay in lieu.
The governments of the Philippines and Indonesia have mandated minimum monthly wages for maids of $500 and $450 respectively, and a weekly day off. The Philippines does not want maids to pay any recruitment fee, while Indonesia has capped it at about S$2,000, or six months' salary.
The number of Myanmar maids in Singapore has grown by 50 per cent over the past two years, from about 20,000 to 30,000 now.
In comparison, over the same period, the number of Indonesian maids increased by 25 per cent - from 100,000 to 125,000 - while that of Filipinos grew by about 30per cent, from 55,000 to 70,000. These were based on estimates by embassies and maid agents.
Singaporean agents said Myanmar's legalisation will also help employers here.
There have been persistent complaints about the maids' poor training and high turnover. Agents estimate that the majority of Myanmar maids change employers at least twice in their first six months in Singapore.
There are also more runaways. Between last September and last month, 61 maids sought shelter with migrant worker group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), compared with 49 in the same period in 2012.
The churn is partly because their work was seen as illegal back home. Many left Myanmar as tourists without any training and were offered poor employment terms.
"Many Myanmar maids are not trained, and their recruitment fees are too high. That is why the turnover is so high," said Best Home Employment Agency owner Tay Khoon Beng.
Home's executive director Jolovan Wham agreed, saying that many ran away because they were discouraged by the hefty recruitment fees they paid.
"Up to eight months of their salary goes to paying the recruitment fees. In the meantime, they can't send any money home. So many just give up and run away."
