Our workers' plight abroad

The Daily Star carried one such instance of our workers facing difficult situation in Saudi Arabia. Regrettably some of the employers in Saudi Arabia have subjected our workers to the most abject behaviour that must not only be protested but be taken up by the government with the Saudi authorities to bring the culprits to book.

What appears extraordinarily inhuman is the denial of basic facilities that the employer is legally bound to provide the employees as per the terms of agreement. The fact that our workers have been denied not only their full salaries but also basic amenities like food and in some cases shelter speaks of lack of Saudi authorities' oversight of these companies. To think that one is deprived of one's passport and even the work permit while working there is insulting and denigrating, apart from being a serious breach of contract. Our workers go abroad on employment supposedly through accepted and legal procedures, and if what appeared in the report is to be believed, many of them appear to be in a state of bondage.

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Saudi Arabia is one of the largest employers of Bangladeshi workers and we would like to think that what the report depicts is only an exception rather than a common feature that our workers have to endure in Saudi Arabia.

However, the whole procedure of overseas employment may have loopholes that expose the man seeking employment abroad to all sorts of exploitation by his employers, and this the government must address.

Given the volume of foreign exchange that our workers bring in and given that a large number of our unskilled and semi skilled labour is employed abroad, the least the government can do is to ensure that our expatriate workers get their due pay and emoluments on time.

The government must institute a thorough probe into the causes of the plight of our workers and take necessary steps to rectify the situation.