Female RMG Workers’ Recruitment in Jordan
Govt won’t allow pvt agencies to handle
The government has decided to send female garment workers to Jordan only through state-owned recruiting agency BOESL fearing a rise in migration costs and malpractices by private agencies.
“We have asked the private recruiting agencies to reduce the migration charge but they have not done that as yet,” Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told The Daily Star recently.
“Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd will charge each female migrant worker a nominal fee of Tk 12,000. It will also keep a watch on their well-being during their stay in Jordan,” he said.
A few Jordanian employers and Bangladeshi recruiting agencies, who have long been partners in recruitment, are unhappy at the government decision.
They said the BOESL is not efficient enough to send workers abroad quickly for work.
Some Jordanian employers warned that they might look for an alternative source of manpower if the Bangladesh government does not allow the private agencies to send workers to Jordan.
Quoting some Jordanian employers, Bangladesh Embassy in Jordan informed the authority concerned in Dhaka of the matter.
In a letter to the expatriates’ welfare ministry on October 6, Toufiq Islam Shatil, first secretary of Bangladesh Embassy in Amman, said Jordan lifted a ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in July after nearly three years.
The embassy has been trying to convince the Jordanian employers to recruit workers through BOESL to keep the migration cost low and ensure recruitment of skilled workers.
The Bangladesh mission in Amman stopped attesting demand letters for workers in favour of private agencies after the expatriates’ welfare ministry informed it of the decision, said the letter.
The Jordanian employers want the migrant workers to join work in Jordan very quickly, Shatil said in the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by The Daily Star.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) Secretary General Ali Haider Chowdhury said such a government decision would affect the already shrinking job market abroad.
Wishing anonymity, a recruiting agent said, “I have paid the government a huge amount for the licence to send workers abroad. If I do wrong, the government can punish me. But it cannot bar me from doing business.”
Around three lakh Bangladeshis went abroad for work so far this year. The number is unlikely to hit even four lakh with only two months remaining.
Nearly 4.75 lakh workers migrated abroad last year while the figure was 8.75 lakh in 2008.
“Utilisation of the job market in Jordan could give Bangladesh a huge lift amid such a decline. A readymade garment worker earns around Tk 20,000 a month and his or her travel cost is paid by the employers in Jordan,” said Ali Haider.
Private agencies usually charge around Tk 2 lakh, which includes airfare and processing fee, for sending a worker abroad. The cost could go up as high as Tk 5 lakh depending on the country of destination and salary.
As an excuse for charging excessive fees, the private recruiting agencies say that they have to pay some “middlemen” a huge amount of money to buy visas of the country of destination.
The expatriates’ welfare minister said if the private agencies can send female RMG workers to Jordan for Tk 12,000 or less, they would be allowed to do the job.
Private recruiting agencies said they could send migrant workers to Jordan for Tk 23,000 and 25,000 each if the employer pays the airfare.
“If Jordanian companies want skilled Bangladeshi labourers to join work there in time, they have to submit orders in advance,” the minister said.
“BOESL can do the job faster than private recruiting agencies,” he claimed.
A Jordanian employer submitted a demand letter for 1,000 workers in July this year and the BOESL has sent it 600 workers so far, said BOESL Managing Director Muhammad Abdullah.
