Maid to get weekly rest days
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JGMum:
Exactly. Different countries have different demands on parents and employees. On education especially, we expect our parents here to be more involved (in coaching) than parents in Europe. An European country where I worked and lived in for a couple of years has an education system where there is no homework for children until they are older than 12. Parents are not expected to coach or teach their kids after school hours. All the teaching is done in school. Hence hours after school is only play time. Here, I am struggling to coach my P1 boy with his school homework, and he is lucky if he gets to sleep by 9 pm. I can't imagine when he reaches higher primary, when we have to factor in tuition homework.
Now you know why they do not want to get married and have kids? I lived there. I know what families are going through. During school holidays, my friends frown and summon up their grans to help if they are healthy enough.1amber:
[quote=\"nms1\"]
I have a colleague in the UK who is my counterpart for Europe who has 2 children (8 & 2), does the same full-time job as me which includes almost monthly overseas travel and she has no choice but to survive with just a part-time cleaner. She or her husband have to cook when they get home every night and the children are 100% her responsibility whenever she isn't at work. We are very lucky!
The good thing I noticed about UK is that kids generally sleep early. They can because no homework. Their curriculum is not so punishing. Can we do it here? By 7.30pm families expect kids to go upstairs to sleep so that adults have their own time. When I was living there my British friends thought I was cruel to let my kid sleep past 9pm. Wait till they here about night tuition and enrichments and doing homework past 9pm...
So we really just compare like that. Our society is different. Expectations are different.
Think back on our parents' generation, many do not have maids. Perhaps they could cope better without maids because they do not have to teach their children after school hours? (most do not know how to anyway)
Within my industry at least, this country also has shorter working hours. And mothers with young children are usually given less workload because they knock off at 4pm to pick up their children from childcare centres. Other colleagues there knock off 5pm ON THE DOT. No OT. No working from home after work 9pm to 12am on your laptop. Productivity-wise, of course it is lower. The headcount for any section there (in the same company) is higher than that in Singapore for the same output. I call the years I worked there my career honeymoon, the only time I could really work 9 am to 5 pm, Mon to Fri, and no more.[/quote]Can you imagine that kind of life style here? NO WAY. Although my working hours are 8.30 to 6, I can feel my boss is not happy if I make a move on the dot (6 pm). When I reach home, my DD will be ready with her school or enrichment homework. One may argue that I CHOOSE to have enrichments, yes I did. But why did I do that? To spend money? To kill my child's playtime? Definitely the answer is NO NO NO. Then why? Our system.
So comparing with other countries is not a fair argument. Of course, for argument sake, I can also say many things, but I want to think this first, \"Is it practical?\"
I am completely alright with FDWs taking Sundays off. I am ok with Saturdays as well. Buuuuutttttttt, I dont WANT to be responsible for anything that happens to FDWs on their off-days. Is it too much to ask this? :mad: -
jtoh:
If our maids work at someone else's home on their Sundays off, this is against MOM's rules right? If that's the case, will the employers get into trouble even though we are not aware of it?
How MOM can track this? I doubt some FDWs are already doing this. -
HAPPYH:
:goodpost:Power Puff:
Most people would choose not to have any live-in maid if they could help it. Before we judge anyone, we have to consider their family needs first...I'd hust given birth, and had a preschooler and elderly parent living with me. I too did household chores, chaufferring, buying groceries, cooking while taking care of my kids for 4 months after my maid was repatriated -she stole from us. It was tough but I didn't, couldn't collapse, otherwise, who else would hold the fort right? I did the bare minimum of chores, but found myself exhausted, especially since both kids also demanded my attention. Relations between my family members got strained. So no choice, despite our bad experiences with maids, we decided to hire another one. When my kids grow older and more independent, I will most likely look for a local part-time helper. When I return to the workforce after my leave, I may also have to hunt for a childcare centre. The govt's policies appear to favour maids because they want us working mothers to wean off maids and depend more on our own extended family members to help in childminding...so the point is, treat your parents and parents-in-laws well!!
Different countries have different policies and different dynamics. We should never compare ourselves with other countries unless the work culture, education, health, housing, population and immigration, transport policies, everything else are the same,. This is true even when comparing ourselves to countries closer to home. It appears that our policy makers have a habit of quoting what seems in line with international humane standards but conveniently neglect other imporrtant implications to justify their decisions.
I still think the crux of the issue is not the weekly off day per se, but the amount of accountability which is largely borne by employers currently. There should be clear guidelines on what 'off day' means, how many hours..If like HK, then it's from the night before til the next working day morning, the govt should expect the maids to pay for their own food and lodging. Whether the maids gallavant or bunk in with their bf, we shouldn't bother. Just don't expect us to be responsible for any medical fees or forfeit our bons if anything happens outside our home. The current policies are ambiguous and allows for too many loopholes. The maids are laughing at us!
The new ruling does not take into account the cost when the maid gets into trouble and needs to be repatriated. Who bears the cost of repatriation, the agent fees for new maid, the new insurance to apply for, the annual leave needed during the gap when waiting for new maid........... -
By Amanda Phua and Amanda Yong
The New Paper
Friday, Mar 09, 2012
It's the Bangladeshi boys who are flirty, not us.
This was what domestic workers told The New Paper.
\"They only want the woman's body,\" said Ms Sarminah, 30, an Indonesian who has been working here as a maid for five years.
She gets one day off a month and spends that day hanging out with friends in Changi Village or in CityPlaza.
The maid, who is married with two children, added: \"Even on the road, when I go out to do things for my employer, they will follow me and ask for my number.\"
Another maid, who declined to be identified, agreed with Ms Sarminah.
The petite, long-haired 26-year-old Filipina with a sweet face and gentle demeanour has been working in Singapore for only 11/2 years.
But she claimed she has already been hit on countless times by Bangladeshi men.
She said this happens every time she goes to town on her days off.
She gets one Sunday off a month.
She usually spends her days off with her 32-year-old aunt, who has worked here for more than a decade, at Orchard Road shopping centres such as Lucky Plaza.
She said: \"The men will look at me and smile, but I never smile back. Otherwise, they will try and make friends with me.\"
Sometimes, the bolder men cut straight to the chase.
She said: \"They will come up to me and say, 'Hi, miss, can I have your number?'
\"They'll say things like, 'You look so pretty, so sexy.' But I just pretend I didn't hear them.\"
There are those who are even more persistent.
Once, she said, she was tailed by a Bangladeshi man for 30minutes at Orchard Road.
\"I was walking with my aunt, but from the corner of my eye, I could see him following us,\" she said.
She said she does not want to get into a relationship as the problems that may arise are notworth her while.
'I ignore them'
Ms Christina Manava Umalla, 29, a Filipina who has worked here for four years, said she scolds the men who try to pass her pieces of paper with mobile phone numbers on them.
Ms Umalla, who meets up with friends at Lucky Plaza on her days off, said: \"I will ignore them when they flirt with me. But when they come and talk to me, I tell them, 'Are you crazy?'
\"If you talk to them, they will think you like them.\"
Ms Umalla, who gets one Sunday off a month, added: \"There are a lot of Bangladeshi men. Some of them are handsome and neat. But I don't like it when they disturb me.\"
But the charm of male foreign workers sends 46-year-old Gena into a fit of giggles.
The Filipina admitted that she found them attractive, but turned coy when asked what she liked about them.
The maid, who gets a day off each month, said: \"But I don't want to give them my number and mycousin said that if I say hi to them, they will follow me.\"
This article was first published in The New Paper.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120307-332077.html -
Some Bangla boys are toy boys for S'pore women
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120307-332074.html -
Sure or not? No more men in Singapore or what? I don’t believe what the worker says.
-
ER:
:goodpost:HAPPYH:
[quote=\"Power Puff\"]Most people would choose not to have any live-in maid if they could help it. Before we judge anyone, we have to consider their family needs first...I'd hust given birth, and had a preschooler and elderly parent living with me. I too did household chores, chaufferring, buying groceries, cooking while taking care of my kids for 4 months after my maid was repatriated -she stole from us. It was tough but I didn't, couldn't collapse, otherwise, who else would hold the fort right? I did the bare minimum of chores, but found myself exhausted, especially since both kids also demanded my attention. Relations between my family members got strained. So no choice, despite our bad experiences with maids, we decided to hire another one. When my kids grow older and more independent, I will most likely look for a local part-time helper. When I return to the workforce after my leave, I may also have to hunt for a childcare centre. The govt's policies appear to favour maids because they want us working mothers to wean off maids and depend more on our own extended family members to help in childminding...so the point is, treat your parents and parents-in-laws well!!
Different countries have different policies and different dynamics. We should never compare ourselves with other countries unless the work culture, education, health, housing, population and immigration, transport policies, everything else are the same,. This is true even when comparing ourselves to countries closer to home. It appears that our policy makers have a habit of quoting what seems in line with international humane standards but conveniently neglect other imporrtant implications to justify their decisions.
I still think the crux of the issue is not the weekly off day per se, but the amount of accountability which is largely borne by employers currently. There should be clear guidelines on what 'off day' means, how many hours..If like HK, then it's from the night before til the next working day morning, the govt should expect the maids to pay for their own food and lodging. Whether the maids gallavant or bunk in with their bf, we shouldn't bother. Just don't expect us to be responsible for any medical fees or forfeit our bons if anything happens outside our home. The current policies are ambiguous and allows for too many loopholes. The maids are laughing at us!
The new ruling does not take into account the cost when the maid gets into trouble and needs to be repatriated. Who bears the cost of repatriation, the agent fees for new maid, the new insurance to apply for, the annual leave needed during the gap when waiting for new maid...........[/quote]I did not read the newspaper these few days. How was the response in forum section? Same like here (KSP.com)? At least the authorities will get to see the response from public. -
verykiasu2010:
Wow that is so Lady Chatterly's Lover.Some Bangla boys are toy boys for S'pore women
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120307-332074.html -
no need for these boys to go desker road and pay money for sex now.
-
yeah they are paid instead.
read in papers that some maids were so in love with these boys that they were willing to pay for new phones, clothes and even gave $$ to the boys to send home.
:siao:
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