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Labor attaches to protect Indonesian migrant workers
(Tempo/Tony Hartawan)The Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) plans to set up representative offices abroad to protect Indonesian migrant workers in major destination countries
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(Tempo/Tony Hartawan) (Tempo/Tony Hartawan)
(Tempo/Tony Hartawan)
The Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) plans to set up representative offices abroad to protect Indonesian migrant workers in major destination countries.
The BNP2TKI's deputy chairman for foreign cooperation and promotion, Anjar Prihantoro, said the planned system was similar to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), where regulation and protection of migrant workers were managed under labor attachés.
"We have proposed this plan to the House of Representatives and are now waiting for their response," he said to thejakartapost.com in Jakarta.
The agency aimed to formalize the status of migrant workers employed in households to prevent slavery, he said, adding that in some cases housemaids worked 18 hours a day without having time off to rest or pray.
Formalizing their status would be achieved by compelling them (housekeepers, chefs, and drivers) to be employed through agencies. Rather than employing them informally as in-house workers, people whishing to use their services would then need to sign a contract with the agencies to employ the migrant workers in an outsourcing arrangement, Anjar added.
'It is better to have one employment agency with lots of migrant workers as employees than having each migrant worker employed directly in each house,' he said.
The government planned to verify migrant workers' documents in the destination countries to prevent human rights violations. It would help them assess the competency of prospective agencies and direct employers hiring Indonesian workers abroad, Anjar said.
The verification should be proper and detailed, he further said, analyzing every aspect related to the migrants' work, from a work contract to acceptable working hours. After that, the government would hand out permits to agencies or direct employers who could guarantee proper working conditions.
'If we do this right, cases of [human rights violations] will stop in the long-run, because unqualified agencies or employers cannot attain permits to employ our workers,' Anjar stated. (ags)(+)
