Soon have a policy to support workers returning from Libya

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, out of the total of more than 10,000 Vietnamese workers working in Libya under contract, about 1,700 are from Nghe An. The districts with many workers going to work in Libya are Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Tan Ky... The number of workers who have worked for more than a year accounts for about 65%, less than a year 45%. In 2010 alone, 641 workers from Nghe An went to work in Libya. By the end of March 8, 2011, 816 workers from Nghe An had returned home safely, nearly 900 workers had gone to a third country and were on their way home by air and water. Of the total number of workers from the province who had to return home to work in Libya, 27% were poor, 68% had to borrow money from banks to cover the cost of leaving the country.

The biggest concern of workers who have just returned from Libya is to pay off all debts, stabilize their jobs and lives. To help workers overcome difficulties and soon stabilize their jobs and lives, on March 8, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs sent a dispatch to the Provincial People's Committee requesting the issuance of a number of support policies. Specifically: Support for workers who have worked in Libya for a period of 1 year or less, each person is 2 million VND; from more than 1 year to less than 2 years is 1 million VND. Workers who work in Libya and have to return home before the deadline are supported with vocational training.

Short-term free training at vocational training establishments in the province to have conditions and opportunities to find new jobs. In addition, these workers are entitled to loans with preferential interest rates from the national employment fund if they have a need to invest in production, business, services, create jobs, and stabilize their lives. In addition, those workers who wish to continue working in other foreign markets are facilitated and supported by the authorities to go abroad to work.

However, it is not easy for support policies to reach workers. Mr. Phan Sy Duong - Provincial Party Committee member, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor said: "When drafting our proposal to the Provincial People's Committee, we tried to recognize and consider the current situation of local workers as well as the financial capacity of the province. However, with more than 1,700 workers, the large amount of support, the Provincial People's Committee cannot decide on its own but must go through the Provincial People's Council..."

In addition, the statistics and reporting work of district and commune authorities on local workers returning from Libya is still inadequate. As of March 10, we contacted the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of districts with many workers going to work in Libya such as Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc to grasp the situation of workers after returning to the locality, and received the same answer: "The communes have not reported the data yet." Some wards and communes with many people going to work abroad such as Nghi Hai (Cua Lo Town), Nghi Thiet (Nghi Loc) also do not know the exact number of people from the commune going to work abroad in Libya.

The data obtained by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is based on information from labor export service enterprises. Mr. Nguyen Van Bich - Chairman of Nghi Hai Ward People's Committee explained: "Most people when going to work abroad contact directly with labor export brokerage and service units. When they return to their hometown, they do not report to the commune People's Committee, so it is very difficult for us to grasp the exact data."

In addition to the proposal for financial support as well as policies to create new jobs for workers returning from Libya, another important support is debt relief and debt extension for workers who borrow capital for the cost of exporting labor to Libya. Most of the Nghe An workers who are exported borrow capital from two banks: the Social Policy Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

By the end of March 10, these banks had not yet counted the number of loans for labor export to Libya. However, speaking with us, Mr. Phan Hoang Vuong - Director of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed: "After having complete statistics, the Bank will seriously implement the policy of debt suspension and debt extension for loans for labor export to Libya, especially loans with large outstanding balances according to the policy of superiors."

Some labor export service companies that send Nghe An workers to work in Libya have also accepted the loss to support workers returning from Libya in difficulty. Talking to us over the phone, Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga - General Director of Viet - Nhat Company (headquartered in Hanoi) - one of the labor export service companies that send Vietnamese workers to work in Libya, including many workers from Nghe An, affirmed: "Workers who still owe the company labor export costs (deducted from salary) will have their debts cleared. For those who are still owed wages, after the situation stabilizes, the company will claim the wages on behalf of the workers. In addition, the company will actively seek new labor markets to help workers returning from Libya have the opportunity to continue exporting labor." Hopefully, in addition to the goodwill of businesses, the province needs to soon have policies to support workers returning from Libya so that they can soon

Minh Quan