Philippines Seeks Labor Security For Filipino Seasonal Workers In Korea

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is seeking a formal government-to-government agreement with South Korea to govern the employment of seasonal workers to ensure labor security and guarantee a better life for Filipinos employed in the latter.

The DMW is advocating for a government-to-government (G2G) basis for seasonal workers, similar to the Employment Permit System (EPS) administered for non-seasonal laborers. I Photo: Department of Migrant Workers Facebook

"In the coming days, we have already had two meetings with our Korean counterparts – what we also want to propose to the Korean government is to have a formal national government-to-national government agreement," DMW officer-in-charge Undersecretary Hans Cacdac said in a news forum in Quezon City.

Cacdac mentioned that they are advocating for a government-to-government (G2G) basis for seasonal workers, similar to the Employment Permit System (EPS) administered for non-seasonal laborers, which has been operated through government-to-government memorandum of understanding (MOU) for over 20 years.

"We also want, like the factory workers we send on a government-to-government basis to Korea, to have the same for seasonal workers so that protection is fully provided," Cacdac said.

"Because with a national government-to-national government agreement, the national government of Korea itself will say, 'We will take responsibility for them...' – similar to the factory workers. We will provide them with protection; if there are complaints, our labor justice system will immediately accept them and process them," he added.

The appeal was made following around 160 labor complaints filed before the Migrant Workers office in South Korea regarding contract violations, uncomfortable or undesirable working and living conditions in farms, underpayment of wages, withholding of passports, five cases of physical abuse, and six cases of natural deaths over the course of two years.

The DMW took action on the aforementioned by issuing an advisory last January 11, imposing a moratorium on the deployment of seasonal workers in the country.

Two weeks later, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued a similar instructive moratorium to local government units.

"So, what is currently happening is that we are implementing safeguards, protection, standard contracts, ensuring limited working hours so that seasonal workers do not get tired, ensuring standard wages compliant with the Korean minimum wage, and ensuring safety protections for the health aspect of our OFWs," Cacdac said.

Cacdac also mentioned that they are now screening the contracts of workers and making them members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for added protection.

Local government units (LGUs) are also conducting orientations for their constituents and monitoring their situation through social media group chats.

"But what we want to happen is to standardize the protection and for example... when unfortunate events happen, hopefully, no one will die... and if someone gets hurt, there should be appropriate action – they should be taken to the farm site for treatment and brought back home immediately at the right time. Because what happened to the six who died, they had to argue over who would bring them home because their previous case did not go through DMW," Cacdac said.

There are more or less 3,400 seasonal workers in South Korea who did not go through DMW, and the agency is currently collecting lists of seasonal workers from respective LGUs to monitor and address the situation.

Last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vowed that under his administration, "ethical recruitment, fair employment, and the safe and orderly migration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain among the top priorities of the government."

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