Mauritius is phasing out its Bangladeshi male workforce and it is not renewing their job contracts. The country, however, continues to hire female workers in readymade garment sector and fish packaging factories, recruitment agencies said.
"Mauritius has not been issuing work visas to male workers for several months now as part of its policy. But it is hiring female workers as per demand," said a recruiting agent.
Quoting official sources, the media yesterday reported that Mauritius would send back 6,000 Bangladeshi male workers by the end of this year.
The recruiting agent said the southern African island nation would not send back workers before their job contracts expire. The nation now has a policy of not hiring male workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, the agent noted.
Recently, Mauritius approved companies there to hire 5,000 female workers from Bangladesh for garment and Tuna packaging factories, said the recruiting agent, requesting anonymity. Of them, 4,000 will work in garment factories.
"Yesterday [Wednesday] alone, 86 female workers flew to Mauritius," the recruiting agent told The Daily Star yesterday.
An official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment said a recruiting agent sought the ministry's permission to send several hundred female workers.
Meanwhile, the ministry sent a fax to Bangladesh's honorary consul general in Mauritius for sending Dhaka a report on the situation of workers there, Expatriates' Welfare Secretary Elias Ahmed told The Daily Star.
The ministry also asked the Bangladesh mission in Kenya to look into the matter and take steps so that the workers are not affected by any decision, said a clarification of the ministry.
Since 1992, Bangladesh sent around 12,000 workers to Mauritius, almost half of them female, mainly in the garment sector.
An official said the employers of the southern African island nation pay the airfare of female workers who get $184 monthly basic salary plus overtime.
