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MANILA, Philippines -- Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) bound for the Middle East will still not be able to join labor unions even if the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has removed a ban on this from its model employment contract for departing workers, Labor Marianito Roque said Tuesday night.
"It [joining labor unions] is against the customs and traditions in the Middle East," Roque told reporters at the launch of a photo exhibit highlighting the 75th anniversary of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Earlier, the international labor organization Uni Global Union wrote the POEA to complain about the provision posted on the agency’s website.
Uni Global Union said the provision is contrary to the Philippine Constitution, the Labor Code, and the international labor conventions signed and ratified by the Philippines.
The model contract has since been taken down from the POEA website.
But in a separate interview, POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili clarified that the agency does not have a policy banning organizing and joining unions.
"We don't have such a policy. The contract on the website is only a model contract," she said.
She said the model employment contract in question is a model only for OFWs bound for the Middle East.
There are some two million OFWs in the Middle East.
