Wage theft of migrant workers

Thousands of migrant workers are stranded in West Asia; some have lost their jobs, others are not getting their wages while many more are forced to find accommodation and food on their own as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Nepal have been organising repatriation flights for their nationals but the numbers are too high to cope.

In Sri Lanka’s case, 16,000 people including migrant workers, students and others stranded overseas have returned to the country and been sent to quarantine centres for the compulsory 14-day period. Some of these returnees have been infected with COVID-19, one of the reasons why the Government last week temporarily suspended repatriations since quarantine centres were also getting overcrowded. Another 30,000 or more migrant workers are awaiting repatriation and their stories, many on local television news clips of how they are cramped in rooms with a shortage of food and other necessities, desperately waiting to return home, are pathetic.

While I was assessing the migrant worker crisis, the trio of friends was discussing the same issue during their morning conversation, this time at the gate in the presence of Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya. Buying the daily loaf of bread from Aldoris, the focus was on Kussi Amma Sera’s relative, a migrant worker who is stranded in Kuwait.

“Mage nede-akkata Kuwait raten Lankawata enna be, wediya guwan-gaman den nethi hinda (My cousin has not been able to return from Kuwait as there are not many flights to Colombo),” said Kussi Amma Sera, adding that “eyage rassawa nethi wela, padith lebila ne (she has lost her job and her due wages have also not been paid)”.

“Mageth e-ratawala inna yaluwanta ema prashnema thiyenawa…..mulu padiyama gevala ne (My friends in those countries are also facing the same problem… not being paid their full wages),” noted Serapina, explaining that the Sri Lankan embassy was also not very helpful. This is particularly in the case of non-registered workers, those who have not registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) prior to their departure overseas for employment.

“Meka digatama adena prashnayak. Aanduwata avashya egollo evana mudal pamanai. Egollanta karadarayak wunama, embasiya hari himin thama yedenne (This is a continuing problem. The government is only concerned about their remittances.

When there is a problem facing migrant workers, the embassy is slow in responding to their needs),” said Mabel Rasthiyadu.

While I was listening to their conversation, the phone rang. On the line was ‘ Koththamalli’ Fernando, the ‘ Kokatath Thailaya’ (oil for many ailments) expert who has a remedy for any issue.

“I say….. I listened to an interesting webinar (online seminar) on the plight of migrant workers and one term that was used was ‘wage theft’. What does this actually mean,” he asked.

“Wage theft is a kind of denial of wages or giving less wages than the contracted amount owed to an employee,” I said. “Well, this discussion was very interesting since it dealt with how the ILO and World Bank view these issues particularly when thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs or are not paid their wages. In some cases, workers are sleeping on the streets, having lost their jobs,” he said.

It so happened that I too watched the same webinar organised by the Manila-based Migrant Forum Asia on Tuesday, focusing on the plight of workers vis-à-vis the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the discussion, it was stated that when migrant workers face wage payment issues, the system doesn’t work for them and they are tired of complaining without any relief in sight, since litigation is a long process. Often, they are resigned to their fate and return to Sri Lanka without any relief.

While there was consensus over the need for an international mechanism to address migrant worker complaints, the justice system is failing for these workers. One of the panellists, Shahidul Haque, a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, said that labour-sending countries are often helpless while governance structures are also weak.

Ryszard Cholewinski, a senior ILO migration specialist, said they were trying to draw the attention of labour-receiving countries to the plight of workers not only losing their jobs but also not getting paid.

He said the Philippines, a country that has a strong governance system to protect their workers overseas, has been aggressively working with West Asian labour ministries to ensure their workers are duly paid,

“Negotiations depend on the power of embassies/countries since often there is little that can be done in wage disputes between workers and employers,” he said.

It is estimated that globally there would be a 20 per cent drop in remittances from overseas migrant workers with last year’s figure of US$554 billion in remittances falling by about $109 billion in 2020, largely also due to wage theft.

Dr. Dilip Ratha from the World Bank said businesses in West Asia are suffering and can’t pay wages or employers simply don’t pay. “Workers are trapped, since if they raise their voice they can get deported. Furthermore, wage theft is happening via benefits like security packages and insurance which are entitlements for migrant workers,” he said, adding that many countries risk falling back into poverty due to lower remittances.

Migrant worker interest groups have urged labour-sending countries to record grievances of returnee migrant workers while they are serving the 14-day quarantine period in their home country, to assess the problems they face and whether there are solutions.

According to the Central Bank, worker remittances fell in May 2020 by 23.2 per cent to $432 million and by 11.9 per cent to $2.4 billion in the January-May period 2020 compared to last year. With many losing their jobs, returning home even before completing their contracts and new workers unable to take up their jobs overseas since there are limited flights being operated, remittance amounts would fall drastically in the next few months.

For the record, worker remittances have been declining over the years. Last year, it fell by 4.3 per cent to $6.7 billion from $7 billion in 2018.

According to migrant worker associations monitoring the crisis in West Asia, at least 42 deaths of Sri Lankan workers have been reported since mid-July. According to one monitor, Community Development Services (CDS), there have been mixed reports about paying compensation to the families of the victims. The SLBFE has said that it will pay a compensation of Rs. 500,000 only to those migrant workers who had registered with the Bureau prior to their departure. “We believe this is sad and unfortunate and perhaps a human rights violation too,” CDS asserted.

The situation is indeed bleak for struggling Sri Lankan migrant workers overseas, which was aptly described by Kussi Amma Sera, while bringing in my second cup of tea. “Aanduwa kalpana karanne kochchara mudal lebenawada kiyala vitharai. Eh gollanta wena prashna wedak ne (The government is concerned only about their earnings; they are not interested in any other issue),” she said. Indeed, the government needs to seriously view the crisis befalling Sri Lankan workers in West Asia as a humane problem and address these issues quickly before it’s too late.