Gov’t adopts standard contract for Kuwait-bound Pinoy workers

To ensure better working conditions for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait, the government is adopting a standard employment contract for all those to be deployed in the Arab country.

A special committee has been created to draft the standard employment contract for Kuwait, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said yesterday.

“After the signing of the proposed agreement with the Kuwaiti government, the standard employment contract will be adopted,” Bello said.

“The standard contract will include all the suggestions of President Duterte such as the allowable work hours for OFWs, hours of sleep, food, day off. All these will be covered under the contract,” he said

Bello said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) would look into the suggestion of the President for a government-to-government deployment of Filipino workers in Kuwait.

“It is just an idea of the government, but still no specifics so we have to study if it will involve skilled or domestic workers only. The President wants to strengthen the protection of our workers through government-to-government deployment,” he said.

At this time, the Philippines is prioritizing the forging of the memorandum of agreement with Kuwait as part of an effort to provide additional protection for OFWs.

Bello clarified that the signing of the agreement would not automatically lead to the lifting of the deployment ban in Kuwait.

The government imposed a total deployment ban after the body of Filipina domestic helper Joanna Demafelis was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait City.

The labor chief expressed hope that the proposed agreement would be signed by first week of April.