Thursday, November 10, 2005
Employers’ group wants to protect domestic help
The Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) and organizations working for the protection of domestic workers are coming up with guidelines to give more benefits to the “kasambahay.”
In a roundtable discussion with members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday, Ecop project director Jose Nomer Macalalad said they want to reach out to this segment of the informal sector.
Macalalad said Ecop is also lobbying for the passage of the Kasambahay Bill or Senate Bill 1772.
Ecop consultant Raquel Arpojia, who is also from the Education Collective for Advocacy, Research and Empowerment Inc., said there are an estimated 600,000 to 2.5 million domestic workers, of whom about one million are children.
Under the bill, domestic workers in the National Capital Region will be entitled to a minimum wage while those in chartered cities and first-class municipalities will get P1,700 monthly.
The minimum pay for domestic workers, who include maids, cooks, nannies, drivers and all-around helpers, will be P1,500.
Among the highlights of yesterday’s gathering at the Casino Español de Cebu, was the failure of employers to enroll domestic workers with the Social Security System and Philhealth so they could avail themselves of benefits.
Macalalad said they want to recognize the contribution of domestic workers to the Filipino family and the country’s social support system, so they are conducting consultations with employers’ organizations, recruitment agencies and homeowners’ associations to lobby for support.
Ecop plans to come up with materials to persuade employers of domestic workers to pay not only a minimum wage but to extend to them benefits mandated by law, such as sickness and maternity pay and severance pay, among others.
They will also campaign for the right of domestic workers to work free from fear of physical, sexual, psychological abuse, the right to live and work free from discrimination and the right to personal and leisure time.
The group, which is made up of 50 associations, including the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 500 big companies in the country, will disseminate the outputs of the consultations and urge for its implementation before March 2006, Macalalad said.
Organized
The project is being supported by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and non-government organizations, like the Visayan Forum (VF) Foundation Inc., which is working against the trafficking of children.
Since the ILO only deals with organizations in the implementation of its projects, the VF helped organize the first domestic workers’ association in the country with the Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawang Pantahanan, which provides organized domestic workers with training and capacity building.
Vicente Abadesco, VF Visayas area coordinator, said they hope to renew their partnership with the ILO next year.
Aside from institutions providing shelter for abused domestic workers, VF said there are organizations, like the Religious Mary Immaculate in Mabolo, Cebu City, which provide literacy and skills training. (CYR)
(November 10, 2005 issue)
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