Protection of Blue Collar Workers Abroad

The West Asian countries like Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia etc today stand among the top 10 immigration destinations due to immense opportunities offered by them in the oil & gas exploration sector. The opportunities have made the Indian nationals a significant part of Gulf workforce since 1970s after the first oil boom.

According to the world report 2011, Indians working in Gulf nations contributed a third of the total remittances. Besides contribution in forex reserves, remittances received helps in poverty alleviation of family workers, investment in the economy etc. The migration proved advantageous to the workers, destination country and also India. However various issues have increased their difficulties.

The issues are faced by Indian blue-collar workers abroad are at three levels i.e. before departure, period of time spent at the destination and rehabilitation after return.

Inappropriate clearance structure

Migration process is managed by three different ministries. Passport is issued by Ministry of External Affairs, emigration clearance is done under Ministry of Oversees Indian Affairs and departure is managed by the Bureau of Migration under Ministry of Home Affairs. It creates lot of hassles to the migrant worker due to lack of coordination between these ministries.

Informal migrant channels

Currently, eMigrate does not allow Indian women below the age of 30 years belonging to ECR (Emigration Clearance Required) category to migrate to a list of 18 countries. Consequently, women rely on unregistered recruitment agents, thus, increasing their vulnerability to forced migration and trafficking. In addition to this, workers are not given information of contract period, salary and other related details. Above all workers face difficulties in taking government assistance due to the lack of registry with the government.

Exploitation of workers

Working conditions are usually harsh especially in the construction and mining area. Incidences of delay in payment of wages, physical abuse, retaining passports to restrict worker mobility are very common. Maid abuse is the most recurrent phenomenon as it seen in the recent case of Salma begum (from Hyderabad) who was tortured when she denied the offer of marriage to his employer.

Insufficient and lack of strong implementation of government initiatives

Government launched ‘eMigrate’-an online platform which calls for the compulsory registration of foreign employers seeking Indian labor, thus, formalizing the recruitment channels. However it is also not free from problems. Besides this, the MoUs signed by India with each country in the gulf are not sufficient. This is because it leads to trafficking of workers across the borders of the Gulf Countries. For example-Illegal tourist visas can be easily arranged for UAE. Once in the UAE, workers aren’t stopped from entering other Gulf countries as long as they have a job visa. In this process, embassy procedures are circumvented. Workers enter another country without the knowledge of their home country embassy, and outside the terms of the MOUs signed between origin and destination countries. Therefore, it is envisaged that regional MoUs are the need of the hour to track any illegal movement of the workers.

No rehabilitation Policy

There is no rehabilitation policy to help gain more wages for the refined skills they acquired while working in the gulf countries. Most of the times they face tremendous economic hardships on return.

Suggestions

The most important step should be to counsel the migrants regarding the economic and legal implications of working abroad. In addition to this they should be properly trained regarding the available services with them in the immigrant countries in case of exploitation, delay in payment of wages etc. Indian government should also consider appointing resident counselors in the Indian embassies or the workers welfare centre for addressing any issues of the migrant workers. Fraud done by the recruitment agencies should be made as a criminal act and also the names of the authorized recruitment agencies should be placed on the Indian embassies websites. Finally, the government can establish a pension or a contingency fund for the return emigrants. It will boost voluntary registration of workers with the government.

Fact Box: Classification of Workers on Basis of Colours of Collar

Classification of workers is also done on the basis of the colour of the collars worn at their work. It reflects the occupation they are engaged in. Accordingly there are numerous collar descriptions like white collar job, blue collar job, etc.

White Collar Jobs

A worker who performs his duties in the office settings typically referring to highly skilled and trained professionals. They require formal education like diploma, bachelors and other professional degrees. Further they are paid quite well for their duties. Example of white collar workers includes accountants, bankers, and attorneys, other administrative and managerial roles.

Blue Collar Jobs

Members of the working class who typically performs manual jobs and do not require any formal education to perform their work. The skill sets required vary according to the needs of the job but are undoubtedly lower than required in a white collar job. For example-workers like aircraft mechanics, electricians, plumbers etc require training and sometimes a certification too but at the same time workers engaged in construction, mining, cleaning etc are unskilled and low paid workers. They are commonly compensated on hourly basis and sometimes on salary also.

Other Collar Jobs

These workers are defined not on the basis of the collars they wear but on the basis of the industry they are employed in. For example-workers employed in environment industry are called as green collar workers, workers employed in service sector like waiters, salespersons etc are called as pink collar workers.