COVID-19 aggravates work conditions of OFWs, migrant workers
COVID-19 aggravates work conditions of OFWs, migrant workers
Malaya Canada Panel on Labour Migration:
By Ysh Cabana
The Philippine Reporter
Overseas Filipino workers have experienced more difficult lives than others and the pandemic just aggravated their conditions.
With concerns about COVID-19 and racial tensions, speakers from Canada and Hong Kong presented perspectives about the working and living conditions of migrant workers during an online meeting on September 4.
Dr. Ethel Tungohan, assistant professor in the Departments of Political Science and Social Science at York University, said government response has been inadequate.
“With COVID-19, for migrant workers, an already bad situation has gotten worse,” Tungohan said. “What we’re finding is that an absence of state support both from the sending and receiving states’ perspective has also made it harder for migrant workers to advocate for their concerns.”
The view is echoed by Jesson Reyes, managing director of advocacy group Migrants Resource Centre Canada. “This is consistent with what we are seeing on the ground. Many have been laid off. Those who have kept their jobs as frontline workers have experienced difficulties coping with the challenges.”
He said the policies that are designed to be ‘anti-poor and anti-migrant’ need to be addressed. For Reyes, it is one thing that there is the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). But “at the onset, CERB has not been accessible to many migrant workers, especially to those who need it most–international students who are in limbo because of insufficient hours or income or undocumented workers.”
“We need to support workers whether Filipino or not. When we go ‘back to normal’ as they say, we must ensure it’s centred on stronger labour protection,” he said.
“On the immigration side, there is a push for ‘Status for All,” Reyes said, adding that the call must be supported “on the basis of protection.”
Globally, there are 12 to 13 million Filipinos overseas, according to Dolores Balladores Pelaez, chairperson of Migrante Hong Kong. Close to 200,000 overseas workers and workers in transit, have been affected by the COVID pandemic, she said.
“We have been working long hours before the pandemic. Now, we are working twice or thrice the number of hours. All the members of our employer’s family are at home, so we have to provide all of them all the services that they need.” Pelaez said.
She added that the Hong Kong government has not helped ease the workers’ conditions, nor has the Philippine government taken action. “The government should make genuine, free medical or health services, but don’t extract money from the already burdened Filipino people,” she said.
Reyes said: “In the words of our worker-kababayans, they’ve been ‘treated as garbage.’”
“The Philippine government does have the funds, but the funds are not going to where they should be going. I think that’s the bigger problem. If rectified, this can really help many of our kababayan at the immediate,” he added.
Organized by Malaya Movement Canada, the virtual meeting is part of a weekly series of “Malayang Kapihan.” Previous discussions include ABS-CBN news chief Ging Reyes on press freedom, Sonny Africa of IBON Foundation on the fiscal crisis and prominent lawyer and former Representative of Philippine Congress Neri Colmenares on the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
Malaya, which means “free” in Filipino, is set to have its Canada-wide launch featuring guest speaker Filipino American philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis on September 20.
To learn more, visit their website: https://malaya.ca/
Comments (0)