The pace of overseas employment for Solomon Islanders must increase to facilitate the remittance of foreign earnings home and alleviate the drastic unemployment situation.
In mid July this year there were media reports that 14 Solomon Islanders were going as meat workers to Australia where they would be employed in abattoirs on contract terms for up to three years.
The local workers were recruited in terms of Australia’s Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) which commenced on 1 July 2018 and which the Solomon Islands joined in September that year.
The PLS enables citizens from selected Pacific countries to take up low and semi-skilled work in rural and regional Australia for up to three years and is focused on sectors with projected employment growth in Australia and contains protections to safeguard against worker exploitation.
Increasing Solomon Islands participation in the Australian labour market is a shared priority for both governments but it is very much hoped the pace of recruitment of workers from the Solomon Islands will increase soon.
Similarly one hopes Solomon Islanders selected for agriculture based employment as fruit pickers in New Zealand will see greater numbers join employers in that country.
In March 2018, the Israeli Ambassador, H.E. Tibor, Shalev Schlosser, on a visit to Honiara, told the then Prime Minister, Rick Hou, that the Government of Israel offered to provide assistance to the Solomon Islands in education and with health services.
The Ambassador also told the PM that Israel was willing to help provide fully funded scholarships in the areas of medicine, agriculture, health and women’s empowerment.
The envoy also went so far to say his government could offer help in sending doctors to assist medical centres.
I am not aware that anything came about following those assurances made to the then PM.
Last week, however, I saw a Radio New Zealand news bulletin which gave details of 10 scholarships for ni-Vanuatu students to study in Israel.
The news read:
(Quote)
“The Israeli Ambassador to Vanuatu, Tibor Shalev Schlosser, said the 10 students will study agribusiness, animal science and plant science.
“The students will be required to spend two days in the classroom and then three days on the farm, where they will be paid a seasonal workers wage.
“In the new partnership agreement, the Vanuatu government will pay the students' airfare to Israel while Israel will cover the cost of the return flight, after one year away.”
It has often been said that the high rate of unemployment at home, and increasingly as the birth rate rises steadily, cannot be adequately met by jobs and overseas employment in terms of the PLS and RSE labour schemes on offer from Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Canada, must be accelerated.
There are similar conditions in the Philippines where there is a high birth rate and few local jobs.
The situation there has been largely remedied by the government sourcing contract work for some 2.3 million of the population to go abroad to countries in the Middle East (mainly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), to Singapore, Taiwan, Italy and Hong Kong.
All contracts of employment and agency or service agreements contain a proviso making it mandatory for workers to remit to the Philippines in foreign exchange at least the following portions of their earnings;
a) Seamen or mariners: Seventy (70) percent of basic salary;
b) Workers of Filipino contractors and construction companies: Seventy (70) percent of basic salary;
c) Doctors, engineers, teachers, nurses and other professional workers whose contract provide for free board and lodging: Seventy (70) percent of basic salary;
d) All other professional workers whose employment contracts do not provide for free board and lodging facilities: Fifty (50) percent of basic salary;
e) Domestic and other service workers: Fifty (50) percent of basic salary;
f) All other workers not falling under the aforementioned categories: Fifty (50) percent of basic salary. lawphi1.net
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
