Review of deployment guidelines for Canada -Recruiters' Group

Federated Associations of Manpower Exporters, the umbrella group of ten associations of licensed recruitment agencies serving country-specific labor markets, is urging Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to undertake a review of the guidelines for the deployment of overseas workers to Canada.

In a letter to Roque coursed through Undersecretary for Employment Rosalinda Baldoz, the federation thru its president Eduardo Mahiya said that at a recent meeting held by several top-deploying Philippine recruitment agencies and a delegation of Canadian employers from the province of Alberta, it was learned that the no placement fee policy for Canada, embodied in POEA Memorandum Circular No. 3, Series of 2007, does not apply to Alberta.

“Employers from Alberta clarified that the no placement fee policy applies only to the “Red Seal” which refer to engineers, welders and other highly-technical staff whose recruitment and processing expense are paid by them (employers), Mahiya said. “But for lower categories like service crew, janitor-cleaners, etc., the placement fee equivalent to one month salary should be adhered to.”

Mahiya explained that employers from Alberta will not defray the cost of placement and recruitment services for low- skill workers, and for that reason a large section of overseas Filipino workers will be deprived of employment opportunities in Canada if recruitment agencies are not allowed to collect the equivalent of one month salary in placement fee that will cover for the recruitment costs.