ILO convention to provide better work condition to 2.5M PHL workers

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz looks forward to the entry into force of International Labor Organization (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention to give safer work conditions to an estimated 2.5 million Filipino domestic workers overseas.

She said the convention, seeks to provide decent work and benefits to Filipino domestic workers, including “better salaries, safe and healthy working conditions, protection from abuse and exploitation, and other benefits, [which] will already accrue to the estimated 2 million to 2.5 million Filipino domestic workers who have been contributing heroically to our national development.”

Baldoz said the Philippine Congress has also passed on third reading House Bill 1815, or the Kasambahay (house help) bill, in full compliance to the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

“With the registration at the ILO of the Philippines’s ratification of this important international instrument, we, including our tripartite partners, demonstrate our full alignment with the struggle for social justice for domestic workers worldwide,” said Baldoz in a statement on Friday.

Non-governmental organizations, meanwhile, said domestic workers in the country would now enjoy the rights and benefits of formal workers once the Kasambahay bill is passed.

“Finally, after 15 years of struggle, we are now in the cusp of extending basic rights and legal protection to almost 2 million domestic workers in the Philippines,” said Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, president and founder of non-governmental Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. 

“We are grateful that the leadership of the House of Representatives has finally recognized that it is a national priority to put a stop to the widespread abuse of the rights of domestic workers and to start providing domestic workers with the means and opportunities to break free from the bondages of poverty,” Oebanda said. –Estrella Torres / Reporter, Businessmirror