Saudi firm disallowed from hiring more OFWs

The Saudi Arabian company implicated in several complaints of alleged unfair labor practices has been suspended from recruiting Filipino workers after refusing to repatriate a Filipino employee who stopped working and ran away a year ago. In an order dated April 12, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ordered a halt on the processing of all job orders for the Annasban Contracting Group and its mother company the Annasban Group until the repatriation of Marissa Andes, a former employee who complained of contract violations and oppressive working conditions. This was after the company failed to process the exit visa and plane ticket for Andes, a 31-year-old caregiver deployed in the eastern city of Taif, 10 days after the POEA ordered it to do so. Andes, a native of Nueva Ecija, has coordinated with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Eastern region of the Kingdom as early as January this year for assistance. In her letter in March to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Andes wrote her contract states she was to receive 790 Saudi riyals (about P9,415) as salary, 187 Saudi riyals (about 2,228) as monthly food allowance, and compensation for overtime work. However, she stated she received only 490 Saudi riyals (about P5,840) every two or three months, with no food allowance or overtime pay even as she sometimes worked for as long as 24 hours in the hospital. Andes added she was not allowed to be absent from her work, even as she had suffered anemia and asthma supposedly due to her harsh working conditions. In April last year, she ran away as she was being transported to another worksite. Andes’ is just one of the many cases leveled against Annasban by other Filipino workers who likewise complained of unlawful salary reduction, deductions, non-issuance of benefits and unsafe working environment. In October last year, three separate groups of women caregivers stopped work due to labor-related issues, some of whom have already been repatriated to the Philippines.(http://www.gmanews.tv/story/181307/protesting-ofws-in-saudi-ask-rp-to-repatriate-them) Migrants’ rights group Migrante International has likewise recorded several other complaints by Filipino workers against the company, even during its previous suspension from hiring Filipino workers from 2005 to 2008 still due to labor malpractices. This has prompted Migrante and former Annasban employees who have been repatriated to urge government authorities to permanently delist Annasban as a foreign employer, citing the numerous complaints of contract violations and unfair labor practices lodged against it in the past years. (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/181517/group-seeks-permanent-ban-of-notorious-saudi-firm-for-detaining-88-ofws) “We are very happy with this good news. This is an inspiration for us to continue calling for a stop to the suffering of the other Filipino workers employed by Annasban, and for the government to penalize recruitment agencies which have been colluding with the company," Helen Manlavi, a former Annasban caregiver, said of the suspension in a statement released through Migrante. According to Migrante, there are at least 23 other Filipino workers along with Andes who are stranded in the Kingdom after refusing to go back to work in protest of the company’s labor malpractices. “In light of this suspension, we are challenging the POEA and other government agencies to do what they can to be able to repatriate my daughter and her co-workers in Saudi. They have been suffering there and all those involved must be properly punished," said Carolina Ventura, whose daughter is one of the workers currently stranded in the Abha jobsite of Annasban. Migrante and the repatriated workers likewise vowed no let up in their call for a permanent ban of the “notorious" company. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV