Cayman banned for Filipino workers

(CNS): Workers from the Philippines have been banned from coming to work in the Cayman Islands by that country’s government because it says the rights of its people are not protected. The Filipino government’s employment administration has issued an order, which was published on Wednesday, listing more than forty countries where its workers would no longer be deployed. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, Filipino nationals are banned from working in the listed destinations until those countries improve the working conditions for its migrant workers to protect them from abuse.

The order says that "the State shall allow the deployment of overseas Filipino Workers only in countries where the rights of Filipino migrant workers are protected" and where there are existing labor laws and social laws protecting the rights of workers, including migrant workers or, among other conditions, the country has signed a bilateral agreement to protect it nationals with the government of the Philippines.

According to the new legislation, which was signed by Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, the Secretary of Labor and Employment, the country’s department of foreign affairs will now issue, through its foreign posts, certification to countries where Filipinos will be allowed to work, that specify the provisions of the receiving country's labour or social laws and policies.

The government has stated that Filipinos currently in banned countries will be allowed to remain until the end of their contracts but until the countries on the list enter into some form of agreement with the Philippines’ government or their protections are deemed to improve, no more workers will be deployed to the countries legally.

The government stated that at present 41 countries are not compliant, which includes several other overseas territories as well as the Cayman Islands. Although many of the countries listed do not employ large numbers of Filipinos, here in Cayman they make up the third largest group of imported workers and the ruling could have a significant impact.

At the end of 2010 there were 2,547 work permit holders from the Philippines in Cayman, according to the immigration website.

The country is one of the world’s major exporters of labour, with almost ten percent of its workforce going overseas and sending back remittances. But the government has been under mounting pressure to do more to protect Filipinos who work abroad. Now some critics say the new proposals could actually have the opposite effect by driving Filipinos to work illegally, with even fewer safeguards than they had before.

See order below and full list of banned countries.