Draft resolution may allow deployment of Pinay maids to UAE –report

Filipino women wanting to work as household helpers in the United Arab Emirates may benefit from a prospective resolution that will allow their deployment there, a UAE news site reported Sunday.

The resolution awaits the nod of both countries as they started negotiations on the standardization of employment contracts, according to a report on Gulf News.

“We already have a general understanding on how maids should be treated and this should be stated clearly in the terms and conditions in the standard contract that both governments will agree and adhere to,” Gulf News quoted Philippine Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz as saying when she visited the UAE.

“The negotiations are ongoing and both sides have now formed technical panels for the discussions,” she added.

Baldoz said the Philippines is negotiating with the Ministry of Labor, as opposed to before when issues pertaining to domestic workers are under the Ministry of Interior.

“We do not know how long negotiations with the UAE will take but we have been given the impression that their government wants a resolution as soon as possible,” Baldoz said.

Since June, the direct hiring of new housemaids from the Philippines had been on hold, due to conflicting recruitment rules from the UAE and labor-sending countries like the Philippines.

The report said the UAE interior ministry introduced a unified contract for domestic workers. This led to the suspension of embassies’ role in verifying and attesting contracts, including the Philippines.

But the Philippines as a labor-sending country insisted on its right to verify and record such contracts to protect its workers.

No time frame

Baldoz, who visited the UAE last week, insisted that there is no deployment ban for maids but added there has been progress in the negotiations between the UAE and the Philippines.

She said there is no time frame on when a resolution or an agreement will be reached.

However, she likened the process with the negotiations the Philippines had with Saudi Arabia on the deployment of Filipino workers there.

Last year, the two countries signed an agreement to protect Filipina maids from being exploited there. Baldoz said the negotiations for that deal took a year.

The agreement stipulates Filipina maids will get one day off weekly, will be paid a minimum of $400 (Dh1,468), and hiring costs will not be deducted from their salary. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News