MANILA, Philippines—Some 2,500 Filipino migrant workers are set to pursue legal action against their employer in Madagascar, an island-nation in the Indian Ocean, and its affiliate Manila placement agency for alleged unfair labor practices and breach of contract.
At least 300 of the contract workers of the construction firm Kentz Engineers and Contractors have returned to the country.
Next Thursday, they are scheduled to file a formal complaint before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration against their employer and its undisclosed local affiliate.
Their co-workers are set to return to the country shortly.
Reynaldo Ubasa, one of the leaders of the group, alleged they were "made to work for more than eight hours a day with no overtime pay."
In a statement, Ubasa also cited "discrepancies and delays" in the payment of their salaries.
"The construction firm we worked for cheated us of our salaries, prompting us to fight back," said Ubasa.
The firm also prevented the Filipino workers to "communicate with the outside world, cutting out Internet connection, and seek help in the Philippines," he disclosed.
During the past two months, the Filipino workers staged a series of strikes at their construction site in Madagascar, to no avail.
Terry Ridon, national chair of the militant League of Filipino Students, has taken up the cudgels for Ubasa and his co-workers.
Last week, Ridon bumped into Ubasa's group at the Johannesburg international airport shortly before they took a flight bound for Manila.
In an e-mail, Ridon told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "our OFWs are suffering abroad under pitiful conditions while the Aquino government leisurely watches them return to the country in tears, deceived and unemployed."
"Worse, the government had cut the budget for assistance to distressed migrant workers. It also made more problems for OFWs with its compulsory insurance policy," Ridon said.
The LFS leader asked Malacañang and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to "respond immediately to the problems of these OFWs."
