Fully trained Lankan workers under special orientation programme - Foreign Employment Minister

Mohammed Rasooldeen in Kuwait

KUWAIT: The majority of Sri Lankan workers are happy and content with the working conditions in the Kingdom, observed Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, Keheliya Rambukwella.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Rambukwella who also acts as a Government Spokesman, said that the Kingdom has the largest concentration of his country's labour force in the Middle East but the complaints from this workforce are minimal compared to its 550,000 Lankan worker population.

"Only one percent of this workforce, mainly domestic servants, is affected by non-payment of salaries and become victims of various forms of harassment," the Minister said, blaming a section of the press for exaggerating a few sporadic incidents of housemaids running into problems.

"Nearly 75 percent of the labour problems are settled through negotiations between our labour welfare officers of the missions in Riyadh and Jeddah and the respective employers.

The government funds the repatriation of workers who cannot find solutions through such negotiations, he added. "The employer-employee relations in Saudi homes, is a two-way affair, both parties should understand each other's culture, customs and cuisine for a trouble-free stay."

"Still we cannot be content with the conditions in the Kingdom, since there is room for further improvements through effective dialogue between the two concerned parties," he noted.

Rambukwella said that he had formally requested the Gulf countries to enhance the salaries of housemaids to $ 200. This would attract more people to the Middle East, he added. "We pledge the host countries that they will get added value for their money," he stressed, pointing out that the Sri Lankan government plans to send fully trained domestics to their households."

"Hitherto, he said the government was giving 11 days training for the Gulf-bound housemaids, but now the government is to provide them with a three week-training course followed by a pre-departure orientation programme three days prior to their departure to their overseas destinations."

"At the new pre-departure orientation centre, near the Colombo Iinternational Airport, mostly housemaids and labourers will be given three days of intensive training and awareness on what to expect at the other end," Rambukwella said.

The three-day crash course would deal with country, specific issues, language, culture, counselling and foreign environment. "The men and women preparing to go abroad will be housed at this centre which can accommodate 1,000 to 1,500 people and from there they would go straight to the airport," he said.

Rambukwella said this is going to be a compulsory requirement for housemaids and low-skilled workers as it is beneficial to both the workers as well as their employers abroad. He said his Ministry is working hard to raise the profile of migrant workers by re-designating 'housemaids' as 'housekeepers' or 'caregivers' and were also exploring new markets capable of providing higher salaries and working conditions.

"In western countries they are called 'governess'," he said. Sri Lanka is also tapping new markets outside the traditional Middle East. These new emerging markets include Korea, Japan, Norway, Israel and Europe, the Minister said.

Remittances by Sri Lankan workers abroad totalled $2.5 billion last year, making it the highest foreign exchange earner of the country.