According to the latest figures CSO (Central Statistical Office), the number of foreign workers in Mauritius has been constantly increasing and is now at approximately 39, 032. From those figures we can state that there are 27, 408 men and 11 624 women. This amount of expatriates is mainly made up of workers coming from Bangladesh, 18 429, from India, 9105, China, 4656 and Madagascar with 3596.
It is the manufacturing sector that employs the largest number of foreign workers, that is29 846, while the construction comes second with 6070 workers. Last September, the ministry of Labour took the decision to freeze the recruitment of foreign workers in the construction sector. In all case, the bar of 40 000 foreign workers in Mauritius will quickly be reached by the end of the year announcing an increase of 20% compared to 2008. Those workers are supposed to be treated the same way as local workers and to take advantage of the local welfare.. Though Mauritius did not signed ICRMW (International Convention on the protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers), the country needs to apply its own laws. Here, it is the Employees Rights Act (2008) which stipulates all the law concerning any work related issues. This causes the migrant workers to rebel in order to voice out through violent actions. Those persons are actually migrating to another country in order to get a better living conditions, also, promises are made but rarely respected. From the point of view of management, they prefer employing migrants as they are more hard-working, skilled and cheaper compared to a local worker. It is a fact that it is not always easy for the foreign workers to cope with the working conditions applied to them and moreover their cultures and those that we have in Mauritius are not always the same.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The research objectives of this study are:
‘ To explore the different difficulties that the expatriates face in the host country
‘ To explore the foreign workers’ opinions about the way they are treated
‘ Propose recommendations to those organizations who employ foreign workers to improve their working and living conditions.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Wilson & Dalton (1998) describe expatriates as, ‘those who work in a country or culture other than their own.’
Connerly et al. (2008) stated that ‘many scholars have proposed that personal characteristics predict whether individuals will succeed on their expatriate assignment.’ Due to globalization, there is the need for expatriates. Thus, companies dealing with external workers should find ways to solve problems faced by these workers and make them comfortable in their daily life so that they do not want to go back to their native country. (Selmer and Leung, 2002)
PROBLEMS FACED BY EXPATRIATES
1. Culture Shock
Hofstede (2001) defined it as ‘the state of distress following the transfer of a person to an unfamiliar environment which may also be accompanied by physical symptoms’.
According to Dr Kalvero Oberg, expatriates are bound to experience four distinct phases before adapting themselves to another culture.
Those four phases are:
1. A Honeymoon Phase
2. The Negotiation Phase
3. An Adjustment Phase
4. A Reverse Culture Shock
During the Honeymoon Phase, the expatriates are excited to discover their new environment. They are ready to lay aside minor problems in order to learn new things. But eventually, this stage ends somehow.
At the Negotiation Phase or the Crisis Period, the expatriates start feeling homesick and things start to become a burden for them. For example, they might feel discomfort regarding the local language, the public transport systems or the legal procedures of the host country.
Then the Adjustment Phase starts. Six to twelve months after arriving in the new country, most expatriates start to feel accustomed to their new home and know what to expect. Their activities become routines and the host country is now accepted as another place to live. The foreign worker starts to develop problem-solving skills to change their negative attitudes to a more positive one.
The final stage called the Reverse Culture Shock or Re-entry Shock. It occurs when expatriates return to their home country after a long period. They are surprised to find themselves encountering cultural difficulties.
There are physical and psychological symptoms of culture shock such as:
1. Physical factors
‘ Loss of appetite
‘ Digestion problems
2. Cognitive factors
‘ Feeling of isolation/ home sickness
‘ Accusing the host culture for own distress
3- Behavioural factors
‘ Performance deficits
‘ Higher alcohol consumption
2. Communication/ Language Barrier
Communication is crucial to both management and employees. Sometimes, due to this language barrier, employees do not understand what is expected from them. They thus tend to make mistakes at the workplace and conflicts arise between the parties concerned. Also, the language barrier is the major obstacle when it comes to the changing of environment for expatriates. These people usually feel homesick and lonely as they are unable to communicate with the local people they meet. This language problem becomes a barrier in creating new relationships. A special attention must be paid to one’s specific body language signs, conversation tone and linguistic nuances and customs. Communicative ability permits cultural development through interaction with other individuals. Language becomes the mean that promotes the development of culture. Language affects and reflects culture just as culture affects and reflects what is encoded in language. Language learners may be subconsciously influenced by the culture of the learned language. This helps them to feel more comfortable and at ease in the host country.
3. Industrial Laws
Laws are vital for the proper conduct of such activity as that of welcoming expatriates in Mauritius. The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and employment are meant to produce a ‘Guidelines for work permit application (February 2014)’ manual for those organisations which are engaged in this activity. This manual describes procedures that should be followed in case of a Bangladeshi, Chinese or Indian worker. Any breach of the law will lead automatically to severe sanctions.
For example, Non-Citizens (Employment Restriction) Act 1973 which provides, among others, that ‘a non-citizen shall not engage in any occupation in Mauritius for reward or profit or be employed in Mauritius unless there is in force in relation to him a valid work permit.’ A request to the government should be made if an organization wishes to recruit foreign workers in bulk.
Expatriates are human beings so they should have some fundamental ‘Rights’ in the host country. In Mauritius, the contract for employment of foreign workers stipulates all the necessary information concerning the expatriates’ rights, conditions of work, accommodation and remuneration amongst others. This contract is based on the existing Labour law and the contents of the contract are to large extent the same with some slight differences in conditions of work. Mauritius has adopted the good practices in relation to labour migration and has spared no efforts to develop policies and programmes to maximize benefits and minimize its negative consequences. However, there are still improvements to be brought to the living and working conditions of foreign workers.
4. Living Conditions
The NESC published a report in February 2007 which advocated that foreigners working in the island should enjoy the same rights as local workers. In reality, many foreign workers suffer from bad working conditions. Some workers have intolerable living conditions, sleeping in dormitories on benches without mattresses or in tiny bedroom containing many people. Those who intend to voice out or those considered as ‘ring leaders’ are deported.
In 2006, some workers from China and India who tried to form a trade union or to protest were deported. Peaceful demonstrations often turn into riots which the police brutally suppressed.
In August (2007) some 500 Sri Lankans were demanding better wages at the company Tropic Knits and in response, the Mauritian authorities deported 35 of them. At the Companie Mauricienne de Textile, one of the biggest companies of the island employing more than 5,000 people, 177 foreign workers were deported after taking part in an ‘illegal demonstration’ about the lack of running water, the insufficient number of toilets and poor accommodation.
During the year (2011) a visit at two of the Trend Clothing’s Ltd by (Jeppe Blumensaat Rasmussen) shows how several Bangladeshi workers were living under inhumane living conditions. Furthermore, workers were paid an hourly rate of Rs15.50, which was even less than the previous amount of Rs16.57 bringing the monthly salary to an amount of Rs3500 ‘ 5000 depending on overtime. One woman even said that she had work 43 hours and was paid only 32. The Bangladeshi workers were also living in dormitories containing several holes in the ceilings and signs of water damage next to electrical sockets. We also have the case of the migrant Nepal’s workers who decided to leave Mauritius due to their bad working and living conditions. They were living in an old production space which was turn into dormitories, hosting 34 migrants’ workers. There were no water connection in the kitchen and no running water to flush toilets. They also did not receive any allowance and their salary was decreased from Rs5600 to Rs5036 per month. On the 9th June 2011, eight workers wrote a letter to their boss, giving their employer a month notice.
In September (2013) more than 450 Bangladeshi workers working in the textile company, Real Garments, in Pointe-aux-Sables were on strike claiming for better working conditions. They also protested in the streets of Port-Louis and had gone to the Ministry of Labor to submit their claims one day before (L’Express; Mauritius). Fourteen Bangladeshi workers were considered as the main leaders and were deported by the authorities.
5. Foreign workers and Income
Foreign workers take the decision to leave their native country to work in other countries with the aim of making more money and then send it to their family. However, they did not predict that they will be paid less than that was promised to them before their departure to the host country. Some organisations pay them only half of what they were supposed to. Having already signed their contract, they are forced to work hard for a low salary. Many Bangladeshis, Indians or Chinese choose to leave the host country after their contract termination and the more courageous ones stay and renew their contract for more years. Despite their low paid jobs, it is still better than in their native country where they are even more exploited or where life is far more difficult for them.
The Employment Rights Act (2008) stipulate that if a local worker ‘works on a public holiday, he shall be remunerated at twice the national rate per hour for every hour of work performed.’
However, some expatriates who are forced to work on a public holiday are usually paid the same amount as a usual day. As human beings, they should be treated as any other worker either local or foreign, with the same rights and possibilities.
6. Unions
Unionism is about workers standing together to improve their situation, and to help others. Some unions are reactive, that is waiting for the employer to act and then choosing how to attack or respond and others are proactive, that is developing their own agenda and then advancing it wherever it’s possible. When unions and management fail to reach agreement, or where relations break down, the union has the option of pursuing industrial action through a strike, a go-slow, a work-to-rule, a slow-down, an overtime ban or an occupation.
However, the Expatriates are often not aware of the law protecting their rights (e.g. many migrant workers are not informed of the laws that provide them with the same level of protection as Mauritian nationals and Employers refused to recognize union representatives. It is also often difficult for unions to get access to and organize for foreign workers.
An ICFTU-AFRO (the African regional organization of the former International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) mission to Mauritius in February 2004 was told that the few men they saw were mainly supervisors who were said to be hostile to unions.
During 2006 there were a series of reports that workers from China and India who had tried to form a trade union or protest against their employers had been summarily deported. On 23 May 2006, policemen armed with shields and truncheons beat female workers from Novel Garments holding a sit-in in the courtyard of the factory in Coromandel protesting against plans to transfer them to other production units.
According to the MAURITIUS 2012 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT, section 7: Worker Rights, a. Freedom of Association and the Right to collective Bargaining, the constitution and law provide for the rights of workers, including foreign workers, to form and join independent unions, conduct legal strikes, and bargain collectively With the exception of police, the Special Mobile Force, and persons in government services who were not executive officials, workers were free to form and join unions and to organize in all sectors, including in the Export Oriented Enterprises (EOE), formerly known as the Export Processing Zone.