Unpaid OFWs in Jeddah ejected from company quarters

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Jeddah were ejected from their company-provided accommodations for refusing to work because of unpaid salaries and food allowance for the past two months.

The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO)-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Jeddah immediately took custody of the 20 Filipinos.

Consul General Edgar Badajos said the OFWs are at Bahay Kalinga run by POLO, which is making arrangements for their repatriation in coordination with their Philippine recruitment agency. 

The workers were recruited by a major Saudi recruitment agency, which later transferred them, upon request, to their present company that assigned them to work as cleaners in Jeddah hospitals and residential homes. 

The company, however, failed to pay their salaries and food allowances, the OFWs complained.