Domestic workers

MANILA, Philippines – Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva said they are ready to give free skills training to Hong Kong-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who would be fired by their employers upset over last Monday’s hostage crisis in Rizal Park.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice has reversed its earlier resolutions and junked the qualified trafficking, kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed against businessman Mariano Tanenglian and his family.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia said Sunday it could not accept an Indonesian proposal on a minimum wage for its maids amid delays on a working conditions deal following a series of shocking abuse cases.

The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah yesterday reminded Filipino household service worker applicants that the minimum age requirement for domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia is 23 years old.

Spotlight on Marissa Begonia  (J4DW/Unite/TUC – United Kingdom) Domestic work: “The worst torture is not seeing your own children” Brussels, 2 August 2010 (ITUC OnLine):The adoption of an international Convention on Domestic Work and accompanying recommendation was approved in principle at the last International Labour Conference. This is a welcome step forward for the many…

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Loren Legarda has called for the passage of a bill that would peg the minimum wage of household helpers at P4,000 a month.

Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) spokesperson Dolores Balladares told GMANews.TV in a phone interview that Hong Kong’s Legislative Council shot down an amendment to the proposed Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) that would have included foreign domestic workers.

HONG KONG – Hundreds of workers in Hong Kong called for a minimum wage law Wednesday as lawmakers debated the controversial issue which has long divided the city’s business sector and grassroots labor groups.

New measures are being prepared to boost the protection of household service workers (HSWs) who are working or are about to work abroad. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz vowed to move decisively in reviewing the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s guidelines on the matter.

Stronger protection for domestic workers might soon be a reality after the 99th ILC 2010 GENEVA, Switzerland – Thirteen-year-old Lica de Guzman sang at the makeshift stage at the Place des Nations, during a gathering to commemorate Domestic Workers’ Rights.

Two Ecuadorian nationals were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty for the murder of a Filipino maid in Toronto, Canada in Oct. 1. 2007, a report said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino woman leading an Asian migrants group called on the International Labor Organization to pressure governments, as well as workers and employers group to work for a convention setting international standards for domestic helpers.

Domestic work employs millions of workers, mostly women, around the world. The June 2010 session of the International Labour Conference will hold a first discussion on a new international labour standard for a domestic workforce that is growing worldwide. ILO Online spoke with Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment Programme,…

MANILA, Philippines – A street in Makati City has practically been turned into a “drive thru” for people looking for household helpers.

DUBAI (AP) — Reforms undertaken by governments in the Middle East to protect domestic workers from abuse are insufficient to shield women working as house maids from abuse and violence, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – Millions of Asian and African women workers remain at high risk of exploitation and violence, especially in the Middle East, despite reforms in countries hosting a large number of migrant workers.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino household workers can now work in Switzerland after the government lifted the more than two-decade long suspension of their deployment.

MANILA, Philippines – Nine women were reported raped each day in 2009, mostly in Metro Manila, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) statistics, Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said yesterday.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is looking into the veracity of a report alleging that some Filipino household service workers (HSWs) have been maltreated by their employers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

BEIRUT: Abused, humiliated and deprived of the most basic rights, foreign maids in Lebanon are starting to fight back against their employers in court and, in rare cases, they are winning.

BEIRUT – Abused, humiliated and deprived of the most basic rights, foreign maids in Lebanon are starting to fight back against their employers in court and, in rare cases, they are winning.

MANILA, Philippines – A Lebanese employer was convicted for abusing a Filipino domestic worker, the first conviction for employee abuse in the Middle Eastern country, the Philippine embassy in Beirut reported. Fayrouz Farez was sentenced on Dec. 9 to 15 days imprisonment and ordered to pay $34 in court fines, and $7,200 in compensation to…

MANILA, Philippines – Another housemaid of Mariano Tanenglian, estranged brother of business tycoon Lucio Tan, filed criminal complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday against her former employer.

MANILA, Philippines — An organization of Asian migrant labor organizations Thursday denounced a Hong Kong government decision to freeze foreign domestic workers’ monthly wages at the current HK$3,580 (about P22,500) level.

MANILA, Philippines – When she finally saw her father after five years since she left home to work for businessman Mariano Tanenglian as a maid, Mary Jane Sollano said her skin was so fair and her eyes were irritated by the sunlight.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday called attention to the reported recruitment of maids from the provinces by local employment agencies for the purpose of making a lot of money off their “innocence.”

Victims cry maltreatment, nonpayment of salaries MANILA, Philippines — Two former housemaids of the businessman-brother of tycoon Lucio Tan Thursday filed a complaint against Mariano Tanenglian and his family, alleging that they were maltreated and detained against their will.

The plight of domestic workers here and abroad prompted international and local stakeholders, including the Philippine government, to work together to strengthen protection of the workers as well as to promote domestic work as decent work.

CEBU, Philippines – Abuse charges were filed in court against two Indian nationals for allegedly abusing their house help sexually inside their rented house in Maghaway, Talisay City.

THE younger brother of business tycoon Lucio Tan, businessman Mariano Tanenglian, is facing charges for alleged illegal detention and maltreatment of Mary Jane Sollano, 18, housemaid.