Domestic workers

Nannies, cooks and cleaners left vulnerable as UK fails to back ILO move to help workers who are mistreated or denied rights A survey by Justice for Domestic Workers finds half of its members work 55 hours plus a week and 95% get less than the minimum wage.

World leaders urge support for domestic workers treaty AFP – German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the 100th annual conference of the International Labor Organization GENEVA (AFP) – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Tuesday on member states of the UN labour agency to support a new treaty that offers protection…

GENEVA (AFP) – International Labor Organization (ILO) member-states are expected to adopt proposals designed to offer protection to an estimated 52.6 million domestic workers worldwide during its 100th annual conference next week, with the Philippines among a number of states urging the passage of this landmark treaty.

Millions of domestic workers around the world are employed in private homes, often unregulated by public authorities, making them vulnerable to exploitation. This week the ILO has been meeting in Geneva to design a convention to protect them.

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti delegation comprising officials from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL) is participating in the International Labor Conference which is currently ongoing in Geneva and will conclude on June 17. A report entitled, ‘Decent Work for Domestic Workers’ will be adopted during one of the sessions, detailing the…

MANILA, Philippines – Labor chief Rosalinda Baldoz today announced that the Hong Kong labor department has increased the minimum allowable increase (MAW) and food allowance for foreign domestic helpers.

Domestic workers play an important role in the economy and they allow others to go out and earn money. Yet they remain invisible, unprotected and their contribution is often not recognized. At the forthcoming International Labour Conference (in Geneva, 1-17 June) the ILO and its members will debate drafts that could lead to the first…

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in Hong Kong (AMCB-HK) expressed their disappointment after the Hong Kong government announced increases in their minimum allowable wage (MAW) and food allowance.

RIYADH // In a bid to curb abuses of their nationals, Indonesia and the Philippines are seeking mandatory new working conditions for household staff in Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh is resisting several of the demands, diplomats from the South-east Asian countries said.

FOR once, the Department of Labor and Employment and Migrante, an organization of migrant Filipino workers, shared the same stand in disputing the claim of recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani who claimed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could start ditching both domestic and skilled Filipino workers after local labor officials rejected the request of Saudi employers…

KUWAIT CITY, May 24: “Laws should be enacted to make Kuwait a better environment for workers to come and be afforded all the rights that they are supposed to have as human beings in accordance with international standards,” were the words of the Secretary General of Kuwait Human Rights Society, Amer Al-Tameemi, speaking at a…

MANILA, Philippines — A migration expert has warned the government against playing hard ball on the request of Saudi government to lower the minimum wage of household service workers, saying that it could lead to job losses for thousands of Filipino migrant workers.

Leaders of eight associations warned yesterday they will escalate their protests if the minimum wage of domestic helpers is not increased from HK$3,580 to “at least HK$4,000.”

MANILA, Philippines—Noting that their last wage increase was more than a decade ago, an alliance of migrant workers, including Filipinos, in Hong Kong on Monday asked the government to increase their minimum monthly salary to at least P22,000.

THE Philippines on Friday said that Saudi Arabia had rejected a demand to guarantee higher pay for Filipino maids, temporarily closing one of the largest labor markets for job-hungry Manila.

MANILA, Philippines –  Recruitment industry leaders warned the government yesterday that many Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia might lose their jobs as a consequence of the continuing disagreement over the rules on hiring of Filipino domestic helpers, also called household service workers (HSWs).

MANILA, Philippines—Labor recruiters want the Philippines and Saudi Arabia to reopen talks on the on the deployment of Filipino maids to the Middle Eastern kingdom after the latter suspended the hiring of domestics due to the issue on wages.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippines has rejected an appeal from Saudi Arabia to cut the minimum wage for Filipino maids by half and will not be sending new domestic helpers until the dispute is solved, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has rejected an appeal from Saudi Arabia to cut the minimum wage for Filipino maids in half and will not be sending new domestic helpers until the dispute is solved, the labour chief said Friday.

Domestic workers may need to work harder to secure a $400-minimum salary as a Filipino community leader in Kuala Lumpur cites the Philippine government’s impotence in enforcing such wage policy.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will formally ask Saudi Arabia to lift its suspension of the deployment of Filipino domestic workers to the kingdom in talks that begin Wednesday in Manila, a ranking labor official said Tuesday.

An average of more than 3,000 workers leave the Philippines each day to fulfil work commitments overseas and the country is the world’s fourth biggest recipient of remittances after India, Mexico and China.

MANILA, Philippines –  Filipino household service workers (HSWs) employed overseas may soon enjoy higher pay. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday reported that the government is looking at the possibility of raising the minimum salary rate of HSWs deployed abroad.

MANILA, Philippines – An abusive employer is facing criminal charges after his two housemaids narrated their ordeal to media and the police yesterday in Caloocan City.

The Saudi govern-ment is non-committal to the Philippines’ request to lift the ban on Filipino domestic helpers but announced that it will soon introduce “reforms” to protect the rights of fo-reign workers in the King-dom.

MANILA, Philippines—Some 1,200 Filipino domestic helpers in Cyprus stand to benefit from an increase in minimum wage in the Eastern Mediterranean country, the Department of Labor and Employment has said.

MANILA, Philippines – Among the female workers who comprise 60% of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the majority are household service workers or domestic workers. Unfortunately, however, domestic work is hardly recognized even in the laws and standards of international labor organizations. As anthropologist Dr. Nanette Dungo wrote in a recent paper for a workshop on…

MANILA, Philippines – There have been well-intentioned attempts of government agencies and legislators to provide measures for the protection of the most vulnerable of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the so-called household service workers or domestic helpers. Practically all of them are women and are breadwinners for their respective families. Especially in East Asian countries like…

Several maid agencies in Singapore have been called up by the country’s anti-competition watchdog, following earlier reports that they would raise the pay of new maids from $380 to $450.

A 44-year-old Malabon City housemaid has filed a complaint against her former Chinese employer and two others who were allegedly responsible for her 11-day detention at the police station over a crime which she did not commit.