GCC seeks unified policy on domestics
KUWAIT CITY, April 16: Representatives from five of the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman – met in Cairo, Egypt, on the sidelines of the 45th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC) and agreed to establish standard regulations on transfer of employment, contracts and minimum wage, according to thenational.ae.
The five members, which host millions of domestic workers, mostly from Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent — a sizeable component of the expatriate workforce — will begin work to chalk out a common policy on employment of foreign domestic workers.
Kuwait’s Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Hind Al-Sabeeh, said there was agreement on taking immediate steps to ease friction in the domestic labor market throughout the GCC.
The minister, who was elected to the board of the ALC last week, spoke of an “automated system between laborexporting countries and GCC member states.”
Although she did not go into details, the system will prevent recruiters from charging exorbitant fees.
Recruiters in the domestic workers’ home countries often charge more than $3,000 (Dh 11,000) to provide jobs in the GCC countries. Despite the high fees, the job-seekers are willing to pay since a domestic worker’s salary in a GCC state compares favorably to what even of skilled workers in their home country.