Give more protection to domestic workers, group asks Congress

By SHIANEE MAMANGLU
July 6, 2009, 8:35pm
Posted: Manila Bulletin

A workers’ group has again called on Congress to approve a proposed legislation recognizing domestic work and the rights of domestic workers to social protection.

At the same time, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) is pushing for a new International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention for Domestic Workers to provide more protection to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) employed as domestic workers.

“We are asking Congress to approve this important legislation as urgent as this will give due recognition to domestic work as decent work and domestic workers as workers,’’ said Julius Cainglet, spokesperson of the FFW.

“The Magna Carta will recognize the rights of and labor standards applicable to domestic workers as no different from those enjoyed by workers in the agricultural, manufacturing and other service sectors,’’ he added.

Cainglet said his group and other allies in the trade union movement and civil society had been lobbying Congress for the passage of Batas Kasambahay since 1996.

Also known as the Domestic Workers law, the bill guarantees the rights of domestic workers to social protection benefits such as SSS and Philhealth, adoption of formal contract between employer-employee, impose a mandatory registration of domestic workers and introduce minimum hours of rest instead of maximum hours of work.

It affirms the universal rights of “kasambahays”’ such as right against involuntary servitude, debt bondage and trafficking, right to just and humane treatment, right to access educational opportunities, right to self-organization and right to redress grievance.

Batas Kasambahay will likewise redefine “household helper’’ to prevent employers from treating domestic workers as personal servants with unlimited chores or as sexual slaves.

Under the Labor Code, a household service is defined as “services usually necessary or desirable for the maintenance and enjoyment of employers and includes the ministering to the personal comfort and convenience of the members of the employer’s household.’’

If enacted into law, the bill mandates the employers to grant 13th month pay, vacation leave and privacy to domestic workers.

It (bill) will also increase the minimum wage of domestic workers but does not prescribe unreasonable rights and demands.

The bill proposes to increase penalties contained in the Labor Code to deter domestic abuse, especially the maltreatment of children.

Cainglet said the new ILO Convention for Domestic Workers is expected to reinforce Batas Kasambahay and eventually ensure greater protection to all domestic workers employed abroad.

“The adoption of the Convention on domestic workers will set new international labor standards in the areas of minimum wages, social security, occupational safety and health,” he said.

Last June 11, Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who represented the Philippines at the 98th ILO Convention in Geneva, Switzerland committed anew to respect, promote and recognize the rights of workers.

She cited the country’s goal to have its proposed laws for decent work in harmony with the ILO Declaration on the Fundamental Principals and Rights at Work.