Govt told to stop sending unskilled workers

Jordan R. Gomillion
SOC 202
11/19/2009 11:05 PM

In Indonesia the government has been to stop sending low skilled workers abroad to prevent the continued abuse of Indonesian migrant workers by their employers. Pranoto Iskandar, founder of the Institute for Migrant Rights, said Wednesday that low-skilled migrant workers did not have sufficient knowledge about their rights. Low-skilled migrants have treated like money makers, that’s all. Pranoto notes that most unskilled workers were not members of labor unions and therefore did not have access to much-needed legal protection. Labor unions provide knowledge for workers rights, and even how to obtain salaries. The country should implement principles derived from the Global Commission on International Migration, which was launched by the UN in 2005. The principles consist of various points as a result of regional hearings, stakeholder consultations and expert meetings.

Migrants have rights, bottom line. People don’t agree, but it’s the truth. We all want our human and civil rights, so I have never quite understood the notion that if you’re not from that country then you don’t deserve rights there. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Maybe they don’t deserve full benefits (whatever that means) but they deserve something. Some provisions in the system that benefit them in some way. In this case, workers rights are without question being infringed upon. Many of the workers were being mistreated, many of them enduring physical abuse and even death. Labor unions have to take action, this is one country being documented, but we all know that this happens all over the globe, including in the US.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/19/govt-told-stop-sending-unskilled-workers.html