Sunday, October 14, 2018

Labour pact with Malaysia on October 29

Nepal and Malaysia are going to sign a labour agreement in two weeks. The two countries will sign the bilateral agreement on October 29, informed labour secretary Mahesh Prasad Dahal.
The 'landmark achievement' coming after months of negotiations – by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security – in managing the foreign employment sector for Nepalis will set a benchmark for signing similar agreements with other countries.
The pact will be signed at the ministerial level.
Malaysian human resources minister M Kulasegaran is visiting Kathmandu on October 28 to sign the agreement with labour minister Gokarna Bista. The deal is expected to resume outflow of Nepali migrant workers to Malaysia as it has been suspended for nearly five months now.
"After signing the labour agreement, technical teams from both the countries will discuss the mechanism for resuming the outflow of Nepali workers," Dahal said, adding that the hiring of Nepali migrant workers will begin soon based on their recommendations. "The new deal will put an end to the financial exploitation of Nepali migrant workers in the pre-departure phase as the agreement clarifies the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders from recruiting agencies to employers, and the two governments.
The agreement guarantees maximum services and safety of Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, apart from most of the expenses like visa, processing, levy and others will be covered by the employer as according to the Global Compact on Migration that says the host country or the employer pays for the expenses. The employers will be responsible for all the expenses of workers’ preparations for taking up jobs in Malaysia – including round-trip flight tickets – but the fees for security clearance and health check-up will, however, be covered by migrant workers during hiring process. "But the expenses will be reimbursed in the first month of the worker landing in Malaysia," Dahal informed.
Unlike the previous three-year labour contract, migrant workers will now get only a two-years deal, which gives the migrant workers the option of changing their job, if any problem arises with the employer.

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