Hundreds of Filipino workers were reportedly stranded at a U. S. Army base on Diego Garcia Island due to a wage dispute between a U. S. contractor and the Philippine government.
American businessman Kellogg Brown
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“KBR has prevented them from returning to the Philippines to be with their families unless they signal an extension of their contract with the previous minimum wage,” said Bernard Olalia, undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers. exert emotional blackmail by conditioning their return to the Philippines on the acceptance of an expensive contract. This is not only illegal, but also violates the basic rights of those Filipino workers. “
Tensions have arisen between KBR and the Philippines since the government demanded payment for KBR workers in October 2020.
According to the outlet, more than 1200 Filipino employees work at Diego Garcia as clerks and warehouse staff, among other jobs. Warehouse employees and staff earn $5. 25 an hour, from the federal minimum wage of $7. 25 in the United States, according to the outlet.
The contractor denied the allegations and claimed that the flight cancellations were a request from the U. S. government. U. S. due to COVID-19. However, the contractor also said there had been no charter flights since last year due to a lack of workers wishing to travel. .
“Charter flights have never had anything to do with the Philippines’ salary requirements, and if they had been informed of this, it would have been inaccurate. We don’t know of any workers who have been told this,” KBR’s vice president of marketing said. and Philip Ivy Global Communications.
Some workers said they were reluctant to do so for fear of losing their jobs, but said they were informed that the flight cancellations were due to wage disputes between the workers.
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Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, is a British Indian Ocean territory leased as a military base in the United States for 50 years. Due to the island’s proximity to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, the island serves as a naval communication base and logistics base that has played a role in the army’s operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.