Arab League Changes OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) Term to FE (Filipino Expats)

10/25/2014 – Amman, Jordan | The twenty two country member of the powerful Arab League agrees to change the term OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) to FE (Filipino Expats) in order to boost equality among foreign workers inside the member nations. The resolution submitted by UAE during the annual Arab League Convention in Amman, Jordan on October 24, 2014, gained an overwhelming support from member nations and was approved instantly.

Report says, the change aims to provide equality among foreign people especially in Middle East where overseas workers outnumber local Arab natives. The change does not apply to OFWs alone but to all other nations that have expats working in Middle East. The following terms will be used starting January 2015 according to the source.

– Overseas Pakistani to Pakistani Expats (PE)
– Overseas Filipino Workers to Filipino Expats (FE)
– Overseas Indians to Indian Expats (IE)
– Overseas Chinese to Chinese Expats (CE)

The main objective of the change is to remove the term “worker”which is  associated with Filipinos. The term “worker” is equivalent to lower class,  and other countries like China, India, Pakistan, and Brazil do not use such word to their citizens working abroad.

The resolution was first drafted early on 2012 by Dubai City Government when a Filipino Travel Photographer and tourist Armando Rogas was mistaken as OFW and working as a park photographer by a German tourist. The German asked Rogas to photograph him and his girlfriend and to guide them around the park but when Rogas politely declined; the Caucasian tourist reported Rogas to local police which resulted to misunderstanding.

“The word “worker” will no longer be used and instead, the use of the word “employee” should be implemented on behalf”, the report says. The resolution cites that the word “worker” has a broad meaning and can be easily misunderstood by some European people who are not familiar with Filipino Employment.

The document cited the difference between the two terms.

work·er
/wərkər/
noun
– person or animal that works, in particular.
– a person who does a specified type of work or who works in a specified way. “a farm worker”
– an employee, especially one who does manual or non-executive work.
– a person who produces or achieves a specified thing, paid or unpaid

em·ploy·ee
/emˈploiē,emˌploiˈē/
noun
– a person employed for wages or salary

A telephone survey conducted by Gallup Europe to more than 2,000 OFWs in Europe particularly in Britain, Italy, and France gained a favorable result. An overwhelming majority of the respondents preferred to be called “employee” rather than “worker”, a September survey result say.

Although the league will encourage using the term “employee” in the workplace, the official term to be used will be “expat” as “Filipino Employee” is a common phrase than the unique “Filipino Expat”. The report also says that “OFW” is often misunderstood as Overseas Factory Workers by other expats.

The Philippine government is still contemplating after hearing the news and email sent to the foreign affairs office is not responded yet.

The change will take effect only in Arab League member countries but other countries with overwhelming numbers of OFWs are expected to follow.

/Halah Malaki/ Assisted Press, Amman  Jordan

See also: Major Reform: Immigration Canada Announces “No Visa Policy” for Filipino Caregivers

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