Filipino workers are sometimes asked to pay a commission, ranging between €1,000 and €5,000, to people who find them a job in Malta, Times of Malta has learnt.
The people asking for the commission are, in certain cases, Filipinos who would have beenon the island for a long time, sources close to the Filipino community said.
As a result, those who have just arrived in Malta start their working life having to pay off the commission and other debts they might have incurred. This makes it harder for them to leave situations of abusive employment, the sources said.
Neil Falzon, from human rights organisation Aditus, said he had heard such rumours but was not in a position to confirm them firsthand.
“We have long been saying that, when we talk about human trafficking in Malta, it does not necessarily mean sex exploitation and we should be looking closer at the labour market,” he said.
Ahmed Bugri, director of the Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants, said he had heard stories of commissions being paid.
Dr Bugri, who is also the pastor of the New Life Christian Community attended by many Filipinos, did not wish to elaborate since he did not want to betray what members of the community had told him as their trusted pastor.
He did say, however, that a lot of the abuse could be addressed by ensuring that the work permit was issued on the name of the employee and not on the employer, as is the current practice.
This was a point raised last week by the General Workers’ Union and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin. They said Filipino workers sometimes ended up at the mercy of their employers who threatened to withdraw their work permit if they complained about unfair conditions or wanted to change job.
Last week Times of Malta reported the story of 35-year-old Filipino Jayson Vizconde who was arrested on July 9 and kept in a detention centre for working without a permit while in between jobs. He is now appealing a removal order issued against him and is out on bail.
Mr Vizconde’s new employer said he misunderstood a document sent to him by the Employment and Training Corporation to mean that Mr Vizconde could start working – following a conversation he had, on those lines, with an ETC official.
Both the ETC and the Employment and Home Affairs Ministries emphasised that procedure had been followed and Mr Vizconde and his employer “were seriously in legal default when employment started without any working permits”.
“The process [to issue the permits] takes only a reasonable amount of time to be finalised so that all the verifications are done to safeguard our country from persons overstaying illegally.
“This is an issue of national security,” they said.
“The government will not allow both employers and employees to take the matter into their own hands by disregarding the law and commence employment before the necessary permits have been processed and approved,” they said.
ccalleja@timesofmalta.com