DoLE urged to speed up endorsement of workers’ protection to ILO

Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile yesterday called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to expedite its endorsement of an international treaty promoting the protection of domestic workers, saying this will boost efforts to improve the working and living conditions of “kasambahays” in the country.

Enrile said DoLE’s issuance of an endorsement of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 189 will start the ball rolling for the agreement’s ratification by the Senate.

The lawmaker said the ratification is likely to face smooth sailing at the Senate, noting that Senate foreign relations committee chairman Sen. Loren Legarda earlier expressed support to the ratification of ILO Convention No. 189.

The international treaty offers specific protection to domestic workers and requires signatory-states to undertake measures to make decent work a reality for domestic workers. These include the promotion and protection of domestic workers’ rights; effective protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and violence; and provision of fair terms of employment and decent living conditions for “kasambahays.”

“The Philippine government has expressed in clear and certain terms its policy of improving the plight of our “kasambahays” and is, in fact, one of the primary Sona promises made by President Aquino,” Enrile said.

“The speedy ratification of Convention 189 will validate the government’s commitment to alleviate this sector, and this is why we expect the DoLE to act swiftly on this matter and submit its endorsement.

We should work to become the first country to ratify ILO Convention 189 as a recognition to the sacrifices and contributions of our ‘kasambahays’,” Enrile said.

Enrile, principal author of House Bill 553 or the Magna Carta for Domestic Workers now pending at the House of Representatives, said the government’s ratification of Convention 189 will provide a much-needed boost in multi-sectoral efforts to legislate measures that aim to improve household workers’ working conditions.

HB 553 proposes to set a minimum wage for household helpers of P3,000 in Metro Manila, P2,500 in chartered cities and municipalities, and P2,000 in the rest of the country.

It also seeks to ensure SSS and Philhealth coverage for household workers, as well as the provision of benefits, such as the mandatory 13th month pay, annual 14-day vacation with pay and maternity or paternity leave.

Aside from setting a maximum of 10 hours of work a day for “kasambahays,” the bill also proposes to require employers to allow their household helpers who wish to continue schooling.

The bill sets stiff penalties for violations of the measure, including fines ranging from P5,000 to P20,000, imprisonment or both. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune