Anchor Care Migration and Recruitment has been actively recruiting Bangladeshi nationals to work in Fiji over the past two years.
The company has brought in more than 200 men to fill in the employment gap created by the loss of workers to more developed countries like Australia and New Zealand.
And as the inflow of foreign workers increases, issues of working condition violations and salary manipulation have increased, sparking concerns from the Bangladeshi Government and their recruitment agencies such as Anchor Care Migration and Recruitment.
CEO Masudur Rahman said proper processes were needed to ensure the protection of their workers.
Worker abuse
“Some of the biggest companies in Fiji hiring Bangladeshi workers are doing it illegally,” Mr Rahman said. “And they need to be penalised for it.
“They are using their middle managers who travel to Bangladesh, talking to local agencies and they take with them large amounts of money and pay them upfront with promises of better pay and working conditions.
“The companies that are bringing in people this way will suffer because they did not follow the right channels.”
He claimed some local employers also took on the cheap labour without being able to manage their wages properly.
“Another issue is when they come to Bangladesh and they want 10 people for a big project but when they get to Bangladesh, they are convinced they can take an extra 10, so they take 20 people.
“When they come here, they do not get enough hours to work which means they are not being paid enough because there are 10 extra people there.
“The company has a budget, and it only budgeted for 10 people. So, these 20 people have to share the wages of 10 workers.
“So, you will hear the worker say, ‘I was supposed to get $7 per hour but I am getting only $5 per hour. I was supposed to work 48 hours, but I am only working 35 hours. How am I going to look after my family? This is the frustration of the workers.”
Anchor Care Migration
Over the past two years, Mr Rahman has been trying to establish a proper recruitment process that ticks all of the legislative boxes.
He says if the proper procedures were in place for employers and workers to follow, most of these issues would not arise.
“The employer comes to us with a request and before we look for the right person, we will assess the employer first.
“We need to make sure that the place where we are sending the worker to is legitimate, they are following the necessary labour laws, and we want to also make sure they can afford the worker within a two or three-year period.
“Once that assessment is completed, we include certain conditions under the agreement and then they have to sign it.
“That agreement goes to the Bangladeshi Government. They check that the company is authentic and once that confirmation comes back to us, we send it to our agency in Bangladesh that puts out the ad for the vacancy. Those shortlisted will then be sent to our testing authorities.
“If they are being hired to be a bus driver, we will send them to our driving authorities. You have the LTA, we have the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and we send their licence to check whether it is authentic or not and if they have no traffic violations.
“Once they pass then they become a candidate. They must also fit into your regulations under LTA. We do the same for carpenters and other workers.”
Need for legislative changes
“We are head hunters and our head hunting is ongoing,” said Mr Rahman.
“I need to hunt because you want someone who is an A grade, but you cannot afford an A grade skilled person.
“In Fiji, we have recruited 200 Bangladeshi nationals since we started because we are very choosy and there are two main things that we look at and that is the feasibility of the company and the rate that they are offering the worker.
“If you want a good carpenter or a foreman you need to give a good rate.
“In Bangladesh, this is a big industry, but they need to know they are earning good money.
“We just need the Fiji Government to push for some restrictions on the employer when they are hiring foreign workers.”
