Migrant Worker Quandary: To be Overworked? Or Have No Work at All?
At a run-down bus terminal in a smaller village, Yanti couldn’t hold back her tears as she hugs her three year old son while waiting to board a bus to the airport. She is actually to leave her family behind in search of better job opportunities overseas. Yanti is actually not alone; she is actually joined by thousands of various other migrant workers who are eager to fill the vacancies of domestic helpers, construction workers as well as various other low level openings overseas; jobs often shunned by the locals.
With an estimated 6.5 million Indonesians currently working overseas, Indonesia is actually one of the globe’s top exporters of (mostly unskilled) human labour (TKIs – Tenaja Kerja Indonesia).
The Bad
The escalating wage gap between Indonesia as well as its neighbouring countries has prompted many Indonesians to seek jobs beyond its borders. For many, the promise of potentially earning several times more income outweighs the numerous horror stories they often hear of unpaid salaries as well as sexual abuse.
Surprisingly, there are no regulatory bodies which set as well as monitor the agency fees. Some employers pay the agency fees upfront as well as have This particular deducted by the TKI’s pay-check over the first six to twelve months of work, some with an arbitrary interest rate applied (ranging by 7 percent to as high as 50 percent). On the various other hand, some TKIs pay the fees by their own pockets as well as have to go to the extent of selling the family’s cow or borrowing by friends to pay the agents.
This particular’s not just the unscrupulous agents which are out to overcharge them. by the immigration officers who stamp their passports to the marked-up plane as well as bus fares, to the unfavourable exchange rates offered by money changers, the TKIs are fleeced for everything in their pockets.
Furthermore, most contracts are signed between the TKIs having a recruitment agency as well as not directly with their employers. This particular often leads to limited transparency around contract terms as well as clauses, causing contract substitution, pay discrepancies, as well as even fraud at the expense of the TKI.
The Ugly
According to the National Board for the Placement as well as Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers, thousands of Indonesians are cheated, beaten, raped, as well as tortured by their employers abroad each year.
Another NGO, Migrant Care, reported which 1,075 Indonesian workers died in Saudi Arabia as well as Malaysia in 2011, 80 percent by abuse or execution for committing major crimes. This particular also reported which 471 Indonesian migrants returned by the Middle East pregnant as the result of rape, as well as a different 161 returned with children who had been born within the Middle East.
The Indonesian government has been justly criticized within the past for failing to actively protect its TKIs.
The not bad
In response to the headlines of ill-treatment as well as harsh working conditions, President SBY’s office has been pressuring its foreign counterparts for assurances on labour protection as well as much better benefits: minimum wages, fixed working hours, holidays as well as health insurance. This particular’s not bad to know which This particular is actually doing headway as some countries had already agreed to some of Indonesia’s terms.
Indonesian nurses are in high demand overseas as well as are often placed within the USA, Europe, Japan as well as the Middle East. Indonesian nurses who work abroad receive a much higher salary compared to their counterparts back home. In Kuwait the salary is actually around USD 2,200 while within the Netherlands, Indonesian nurses could earn up to USD 3,000 per month. A government survey showed which factory labourers or maids who earned about USD50 a month in Indonesia can earn USD250 a month or more overseas.
Despite the unfortunate events suffered by some, many do experience a change of fortune once they work overseas. With their much better income, they could currently afford the little luxuries they’ve always wanted as well as still manage to set aside a sum to be sent home.
Last year, TKIs collectively remitted a staggering USD 6.5 billion back home, up by USD 3 billion in 2005. For their families, the money surely was a welcome boon, which has contributed to the increased domestic consumption which has helped power Indonesia’s economic growth over the past few years.
Success stories of TKIs returning to start their own business or renovating their village homes into becoming the ‘skyscraper’ of their village have encouraged as well as appealed to those contemplating to work abroad.
Conclusion
In today’s globalized world, people will go to where the opportunities are. Therefore, better-paying jobs need to be created locally to show the TKIs which the best opportunities are at home. This particular would likely be in line with the government’s aim to stop sending any more domestic workers abroad by 2017.
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Migrant Worker Quandary: To be Overworked? Or Have No Work at All?
Migrant Worker Quandary: To be Overworked? Or Have No Work at All?