Safety net for Libya workers

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What initial support will MoLISA give repatriate workers from Libya?

We urged labour export firms to keep close eyes on the government itinerary to repatriate workers from strife-torn Libya, receive workers at the airport and help with transport costs to go home.

If these firms fail to handle their tasks due to particular reasons, the MoLISA will assign personnel to receive repatriate workers at the airport and give them an initial support worth VND1 million ($48.3) each taken from the Overseas Employment Support Fund.

After all export labourers in Libya are repatriated, the MoLISA will consider additional support based on the level of losses.

Each repatriate worker will receive from VND1-5 million each from the Overseas Employment Support Fund depending on specific cases.

In addition, for workers borrowing bank loans to complete legal procedures before going to work abroad the Vietnamese government required banks to reschedule these loans so as to partly relieve the burdens on repatriate workers.

Is the fund surplus sufficient to support more than 10,000 repatriate workers?

It is basically sufficient. In emergency cases, the MoLISA will seek immediate support from the government.

How long will repatriate workers receive contract liquidation indemnity from labour export firms and financial support from the Overseas Employment Support Fund?

Export labourers returned home due to unexpected reasons but not due to the fault of labour export companies. Otherwise, repatriating export labourers costs these firms a big sum. We should recognise their strenuous efforts to ensure the safety for repatriate workers. Anyhow, we have required 20 firms bringing labourers to work in Libya to complete contract liquidation and compensate repatriate workers within two weeks after labourers went home. We will a keep close eye on the process.

What steps will be taken by MoLISA to help repatriated workers stabilise their lives?

The MoLISA maps out a comprehensive support programme to help specified repatriate worker groups based on actual working time in Libya.

For repatriate labourers wishing to continue working in third countries, labour export firms must assist them with foreign language and skill training costs.

In cases these labourers are financially incapable to pay fees for working in third countries, besides having their loans rescheduled by banks, these workers may be eligible to further preferred loans to take in the opportunity.

The MoLISA recently worked with Malaysia Ministry of Human Resources leadership to raise the number of Vietnamese workers accepted to work in this country. Malaysia is currently short of workers in mechanical manufacturing, construction, garment and textile fields with an average monthly salary of VND5-7 million ($241.5-$338.1).