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| Alberta to accept Filipino skilled workers |
MANILA (PMN)—The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced Oct. 1 that the Canadian province of Alberta is opening its doors for Filipino skilled workers and professionals.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the province Alberta needs professionals for oil and gas industry as well as construction workers for different infrastructure projects.
"Initially 10,000 Filipinos may immediately qualify for this recruitment program, but Alberta said they have a shortage of 30,000 workers for their oil and gas," Roque conveyed in a report in The Philippine Star.
On Oct. 1, the labor secretary and Alberta Ministry of Employment and Immigration chief signed an agreement for hiring and deploying overseas Filipino workers in one of the largest provinces in Canada.
Aside from the said blue collared jobs the memorandum of understanding (MOU) will also allow Filipino workers for its food counters such as food attendants, food processors and butchers as well as nurses and care givers. doctors, nurses, and other professionals to work in the province.
Alberta is the fourth Canadian province that forged MOU with the Philippine labor department, the others were with Manitoba, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
Roque said in a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the MOUs with the four Canadian provinces highlights the department's efforts of providing "ample protection from unscrupulous illegal recruiters and exploitative employers overseas."
It also seeks to ensure that the training and credentials of Philippine workers are recognized in Alberta and at par with the Canadian province's occupational standards.
Recruitment process
Under the agreement, strict deployment rules should be imposed as it would not just meet Canadian and Philippine laws but also those of international bodies. One of these is no recruitment fees will be charged to the workers.
Roque stressed that all recruitment costs related to the hiring of OFWs under the MOU shall be covered by the employers in Canada.
"All recruitment costs related to the hiring of OFWs under the MOU shall be covered by the employers in Canada. This means that neither the employment agency in Canada nor the recruitment or sending agency in the Philippines is allowed to charge any recruitment fees in any form from OFWs bound for Alberta," the labor chief said.in the same daily.
Those who are willing to work in Alberta still need to apply recruitment agencies authorized to recruit for Canada.
DOLE is also developing mechanisms on how to facilitate recruitment, including OFWs who are currently outside the Philippines.
Initially Alberta recruiters who want to recruit OFWs temporarily working outside the Philippines are urged to course their hiring through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the country where the OFWs are located.
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