Reforms improve conditions for guest workers

The release of the rankings, timed to correspond with International Migrants Day on December 18, gave nearly one third of the recruitment agencies surveyed high marks— scoring five out of a possible of six points.

The survey, carried out with the support of the ILO and Australian Government, rated 66 recruitment agencies on the basis of their compliance with the code of conduct promulgated by the Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS).

The ranking system, first introduced in 2010, aims to improve recruitment services accorded guest workers and better protect their human rights while working in overseas markets.

“Employment agencies have shown positive improvements in their operations,” said VAMAS President Nguyen Luong Trao.

More specifically, Trao emphasized they have improved pre-departure worker training, management of employees while they are abroad and support for workers returning home following completion of their contract.

However, Trao cautions that though progress has been made, “much more remains to be done.”

Meanwhile the Overseas Labour Management Department (OLMD) has forecast the number of guest workers for 2015 to surpass the annual target set by the National Assembly.

“The number of workers that went abroad for the eleven months through November has already exceeded the target of 95,000 set for the entire calendar year,” said OLMD Deputy Director Tong Hai Nam.

Nam said although the guest workers have surpassed the target, a number of difficult problems still remain.  Far too many workers lack self-discipline and are quitting their employment early and not returning home on time.

Though the situation has been improving, temporary agencies continue to make material misrepresentations to workers, short change them on pay related matters and fail to follow through with training promised.

“Some employment agencies are greedy and only concerned with making a profit,” said Nam and ignore the best interest of the workers.

For example, Nam said Taiwan and Japan received 80% of the nation’s guest workers for 2015 and far too many of them are quitting because the recruitment agencies are charging exorbitantly high fees in excess of US$5,000.

This has evolved into the situation where 17% of the workers in Taiwan and 4% of those in Japan are quitting and illegally staying in the country to avoid having to pay the high fees.

To resolve the situation, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is implementing a series of measures to prevent companies from charging excessively high fees.

The Japanese Government has warned that if the rate is reaches 5% it will stop recruiting allowing guest workers into the country.

To date, compliance with the VAMAS code of conduct has primarily been done on a voluntary basis but has contributed greatly to resolving problems with the guest worker program, said VAMAS President Nguyen Luong Trao.

However, making adherence with the code mandatory would give it more teeth to alleviate the problems encountered with unethical and unscrupulous conduct by recruitment agencies, he emphasized.