Fair pay urged for Filipino nurses

Ministry tells firms not to undercut as in other professions
Kyodo News

A draft government guideline for employers hiring nurses and caregivers from the Philippines says they should be paid the same as their Japanese colleagues, according to labor ministry officials.

Japan is to accept up to 400 nurses and 600 caregivers from the Philippines between fiscal 2007 and 2008 under a free-trade agreement signed in September.

The guideline drafted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is aimed at preventing the Filipinos from having to work under unfair labor conditions, officials said.

Currently, foreign trainees in the machinery and agricultural industries tend to get lower pay than their Japanese counterparts.

Under the draft guideline, the Japan International Corp. of Welfare Services, an affiliate of the labor ministry, would serve as an office to match Filipinos who want to work in Japan with hospitals and welfare facilities looking for employees. The Filipinos would enter Japan after concluding contracts with their Japanese employers.

Employers would be required to report the labor conditions of their Filipino workers to ensure transparency.

The draft guideline would require employers of Filipino nurses to have trainers and a "sufficient" number of Japanese nurses at their facilities. They would be required to employ a total of more than one nurse or assistant nurse for every three hospitalized patients, according to the draft.

In principle, employers of Filipino caregivers would have to be designated insurance facilities, such as special nursing homes, where more than 40 percent of regular workers have a national care-worker license.

The draft would not allow Filipinos to provide at-home care services because of the inherent difficulties in monitoring their working conditions, the officials said.

Under the FTA, Filipinos entering Japan will be required to have six months of Japanese-language lessons before undergoing training to provide care services at hospitals and welfare facilities for the elderly.

Once here, nurses will have three years to pass government exams to continue working, while caregivers will have four years.

If they don't pass the exams, they will be required to return home, but those who pass will be effectively allowed to work in Japan indefinitely.


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