The Philippine labor attaché in Kuwait Monday said the case of the Filipina workers employed in a salon there has already been resolved, and that the workers are now back with their employer. In a phone interview, Labor Attaché Vivo Vidal told GMANews.TV that 45 of the 60 Filipina beauticians went to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait Thursday night to complain about the alleged oppressive labor practices and abuses by their employer, the owner of Raneem Beauty Center. “We summoned their employer that same night, and the conciliation was successful,” Vidal said. According to Vidal, the employer promised to improve the workers' accommodation and to “treat them kindly.” As this developed, GMANews.TV was able to confirm that former Labor Attaché to Kuwait Josephus Jimenez has been assigned in Taiwan since February 2010. “All references to Jimenez should therefore refer to Vidal, the labor attaché in Kuwait,” a relative of Jimenez said. The workers earlier issued a letter of complaint addressed to Jimenez. Of the 45 workers who trooped to the embassy, 43 were sent back to their employer, a Jordanian national married to a Kuwaiti woman, while two were sent back to the Philippines Sunday. One of the two was repatriated because she recently underwent a medical surgery, while the other served as her escort, Vidal explained. Vidal also said there is no truth in some of the workers' complaints against their employer, such as their below-minimum wage, absence of employment contract, and the alleged physical, verbal and sexual abuse. “The minimum salary here is 120 Kuwaiti dinar (about P18,700). The workers are receiving 160-180 (about P25,000-P28,000),” Vidal said. The workers earlier said in their written complaint that they were receiving only 80-100 dinars (about P12,500-P15,600). Vidal said the workers now have their employment contracts and are already using a proper working visa after they were brought to Kuwait using a tourist visa. He, however, was unable to say whether the salon owner would be penalized for illegally recruiting the workers through an unaccredited agency in Manila. He likewise said only five workers claimed to have been physically abused by their employer, but added that they were unable to present evidence. Vidal could say if they were able to retrieve the workers' passports, which were allegedly confiscated by the employer. “Some of them have their passports; some don't,” he said. “It's for their protection,” he added, even as he admitted that confiscation of passports by employers is illegal even in Kuwait. He said they will write the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for proper action as soon as they identify the name of the illegal recruiter working with the workers' employer.
