Why caregivers in Israel refuse to return to RP

MANILA, Philippines—Since around Israeli aircraft dropped some 100 bombs on the Gaza Strip in December last year, less than a hundred Filipinos have come home, mostly wives and children of Palestinian residents.

No caregivers have come home from Israel.

Even during the bombing of Lebanon in July-August 2006, when 1,000 people perished and thousands more maimed, only a few Filipinos out of the estimated 30,000 Filipinos in Israel and another 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon evacuated.

Malu, a former caregiver in Israel who hails from Taguig, said she had long wanted to go back. “They paid well. I could even work non-stop with neither rest nor vacation. I still found time to buy and sell anything of value.”

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are 39,000 Filipinos, mostly women caregivers, as of last count in June 2008 in Israel. Some 1,000 are permanent residents, while 31,000 are temporary workers. Around 7,000 are undocumented workers.

There are cooks, bartenders, drivers, diplomatic household staff and nurses, too. Ninety-one percent are caregivers, 80 percent of which are women. There are around 4,000 domestic workers.

According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, an average of 7,000 Filipinos went to Israel a year from 2000 to 2006.

Severance pay

This is sufficient proof that many Filipinas go there or dream of going there. Why not, when by law, caregivers should receive a minimum wage of 3,710 NIS or around $914 a month. Less housing and utilities expenses, their take-home pay would translate to around $600 to $700. This is a lot more than what many domestic workers earn in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, or Lebanon, which would be $400 in the maximum.

When an employer likes a caregiver, he sometimes gives her a take-home pay of as much as $1,000.

On top of this, workers are entitled to a weekly day off. An overtime work is paid $50 per day.

Caregivers have paid annual vacation of at least 12 days, recuperation pay of at least five days for $78/day, and severance pay equivalent to a month’s wage, including pocket money and health insurance payments multiplied by the number of years of continuous service with an employer.

In addition, women with valid work permits who get pregnant are also entitled to insurance coverage for hospitalization and a three-month paid maternity leave from the National Insurance Institute.

Filipino caregivers in Israel, especially those who are undocumented, stay there for years. They do not mind working hard because they are well remunerated and they have enough free time, especially those who take care of one or a couple of senior citizens.

On weekends, they usually return to their flats, the rent of which they divide among themselves. There, they cook and eat Filipino food and relax by exchanging stories about their families back in the Philippines. Others eat and shop in Takana, their favorite mall.

There are some who opt to just stay with their employers.

Israel has a cap on how long foreign caregivers can work, usually no more than five years and three months, unless a caregiver is found indispensable especially by the very old, very sick, or disabled employers.

But because of the good pay, many caregivers, especially veteran ones, continue working long after their work visas have expired.

Catalina, a former caregiver, said she was caught by the police thrice, but her Israeli boyfriend was able to bail her out. She was deported the third time, but she didn’t regret it.

Many undocumented caregivers, she said, just work and work and save and save for their families until they are deported because they know it would be difficult, if not impossible, to go back to Israel.

Malu once asked the Center for Migrant Advocacy, a non-government organization helping distressed workers these questions: “Is there no hope I could go back? What if I change my name?” They are willing to go that far to secure a job in Israel.

Problems of caregivers

As of 2008, the Philippine embassy estimated that 7,000 undocumented are living dangerously in Israel. Their mobility, an official said, is limited; they also have to live with the ever-present threat of raids, arrest, detention, and deportation.

But many undocumented workers seem oblivious to such threats. Said Malu: “Their jails are a lot better than ours. Food is a lot better there too.” And even if the workers are not documented, their employer is bound by law to give them their severance pay and other benefits.

But there are good employers and there are bad employers. Said Estrellita, another former caregiver: “Because I once failed to arrive on time, my employer fired me. Well, he couldn’t find any other reason to do so. His family liked my service.”

Fortunately, there are other NGOs that help caregivers there like Kav La Oved in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beer Sheva.

There is also the Physicians for Human Rights, an NGO that provides medical assistance and gives advice regarding insurance issues to foreign workers like the Filipino caregivers, also in Tel Aviv.

It is possible that an undocumented caregiver has no medical insurance, so this NGO provides workers with at least some medical assistance, especially during emergencies, since it is very expensive to be treated there if one does not have insurance.

Another major problem is the huge placement fee that caregivers pay the agent of an Israeli broker.

Kav La Oved’s research found out that a caregiver who made it to Israel paid as much as $5,000, some on a fly-now-pay-later scheme. Others issued post-dated checks to ensure they would not run away from their loan repayments. This is illegal under both Philippine and Israeli laws, but the practice persists because they believe this is the only way to go to Israel and earn those dollars needed by their families left in the Philippines. Given this attitude, few workers file complaints against people behind the illegal practice.

Another problem is the sexual harassment that comes with the job. But this is one problem some caregivers do not talk about. Only in the course of other work-related or benefits-related complaints can NGO counselors get wind of this.

For many Filipino caregivers, what’s important is to earn dollars for their families and be able to secure a better future for them, all because, they believe, they have no similar opportunity back home.

Abano is an advocacy officer of the Center for Migrant Advocacy based in Quezon City.  –Rhodora A. Abano, Philippine Daily Inquirer Christmas