Maldivian Seychelles jobseekers left jobless and pennyless

FEATURE reported by Ismail Naseer MALE, May 30 (HNS) -- A phone call to Haveeru — something strange was happening in the premises of Glow Tours recruiting agency. When reporters entered the office, we were swarmed over by a group of young men and women. "You should write this down," one of them glared at us. "Is this how we should be treated?" Another one moved towards us: "We have been here since today (Saturday) morning. Now it's almost 8:00pm. They (the company) have not given back to us the deposit money. All they tell us are lies." The young jobseekers were "occupying" the premises of Glow Tours for almost 12 hours and none of them had even gone home to eat. They were hungry — and very, very angry. JOB VACANCIES WERE ADVERTISED On March 30, Glow Tours and Trade Private Limited ran an advertisement in Haveeru Daily announcing 80 job vacancies available at a five-star hotel in the Seychelles, The Plantation Club. The lowest paid job, for room boys and waiters, fetched US$500, a whopping some for most non-skilled and semi-skilled Maldivian workers. The highest paid job vacancy announced was for the post of manager at a monthly salary of US$1,500. Other job vacancies announced by Glow Tours included Assistant Managers and Lobby Managers (salary US$1,200), and Receptionists and Salespersons (US$750). Many people responded to the advertisement, excited by the prospect of working for such high salaries in Maldives standards. It is estimated that Glow Tours had received more than 80 applications for the job vacancies. But the company declined to make any comments to Haveeru regarding the matter. Glow Tours interviewed the prospective applicants and upon "passing" the interview, asked the selected 28 persons (15 men and 13 women) to pay a deposit of Rf10,000 (for male candidates) and Rf7,000 (for female candidates) within a 24-hour deadline. The applicants were told that the amount was charged for tickets and visa processing, but it is not understood why different amounts were charged among male and female candidates. "We were told to pay the deposit just like that! There was no time to come up with that kind of money. One of us had to sell a sofa, and another one his computer system, to come up with the money," a girl, who would only be identified as Nahida (apparently not her real name), told Haveeru. "Some of us even had to borrow money on loan," she said. Glow Tours collected some Rf241,000 (approx. US$18,800) from all the 28 applicants. RECRUITING AGENCY WAS NON-EXISTENT Just when the Maldivian jobseekers readied themselves to fly to Seychelles, the Maldives Labor Ministry halted them, and for good reason: the government of Seychelles informed Maldives' Labor Ministry that the recruiting agency in Seychelles, a branch of Al-Jazeera Investment International, ceased to exist last year. In short, Glow Tours had tried to send the Maldivians to work in Seychelles in the name of a non-existent Seychelles agent. An official at the Maldives Labor Ministry told Haveeru that they wanted to check and make sure "how much the rights of the Maldives jobseekers were protected" in the contracts signed by Glow Tours with the jobseekers. There was no mention of the US$242 fee that has to be paid to obtain a work permit in Seychelles. Nor was it mentioned who the responsible party was should the Maldivian jobseekers return to Maldives when their work contract ended or was brought to an end. "We tried to include these terms in the agreements signed between the jobseekers and Glow Tours. But as we progressed into this matter, we found many irregularities. For one thing, there was no street address of the Al-Jazeera Investment International branch. Glow Tours couldn't come up with the street name," the Labor Ministry official told Haveeru. DEPOSIT MONEY NOT GIVEN BACK Subsequently, the Labor Ministry revoked the operating license of Glow Tours, and the 28 jobseekers asked the company to pay back their deposits.