Maid to get weekly rest days
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3Boys:
Agree with most of what you said. Except that part about locking up maids in their homes 24/7. That may have been true of many employers decades ago. But nowadays the maids have lots of freedom even on working days. When I look around my HDB estate- I see maids chatting downstairs, sometimes with other maids, sometimes with guys. Some maids manage to even get pregnant without having day off. My own maid (now on 3rd passport) used to chat outside with her best friend almost every day (that friend's gone home. The other maids are not so pally with her, so she just talks with them occassionally.) My friends also tell me that their maids go downstairs to chat very often, even for hours at a stretch.The mark of an advanced culture is the ability to see beyond one's own interests and treat everyone, even the lowly, with dignity and respect. If we as a society cannot even agree to give our maids a day off a week, no amount of demonstration on the streets will make us an advanced society.
In fact, I can't think of anything more disheartening and puerile than a bunch of Singaporeans campaigning to lock their maids up in the homes 24/7....
Standing up and voicing an opinion loud loud does not make a democracy nor does it make one advanced.
FYI, not all maids look forward to having a weekly day off. eg My maid was aghast when she read in the papers about it. \"Going to be like HK! Don't want can or not?\" And she's not the only one that feels that way. They know that day off means spend $, and that everything's so expensive here. Many are happy with monthly day off. In my opinion the ones that want weekly day off either (i) have someone who pays for their expenses that day (ii) moonlighting -
I had 2 maids for the last 4 years and neither of them has any day off. Instead, they go with us in Church which they prefer (I asked them) since then already have friends then rather than going to Lucky Plaza and mingle with other maids. We had this agreement when I took them as direct hire... they're more than happy as ever.
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Hmmm…okay and what is your point? What are you driving at?
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\"Mr Gary Chin, managing director of Nation Employment, cited an example of a maid who initially agrees to work for compensation in lieu of some of her rest days.
\"After some time, both parties may have a change of ideas. The maid might want to withdraw from the original agreement (and) have the day off. So, disputes will happen,\" he said.
\"(But) who should the employers or the maids turn to for mediation? In the new regulations, it's stated that we're not supposed to interfere.\"
Despite their call for guidelines, the agencies agree that flexibility is also needed when employers and maids negotiate in order to maintain a harmonious relationship.
They also said that from next year, they will be stricter in their selection criteria for foreign domestic workers, to ensure they bring in those who are serious about working in Singapore.
They hope this will help to allay employers' concerns about the social implications of the new law.\"
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Unbelievable!
So all the time agencies have NOT been bringing in maids who are SERIOUS about working in Singapore. They will only do it from next year?
So now we know why we have problems! Is anyone going to slap their hands? -
honestly, the trick of the game for the maid agencies is very simple – churn the volume, whichever way you look at it, the maid agencies gain by getting more placement fees, more maids loan … etc.
ask yourself, does the training cost in Indo really so expensive to cost 8 months’ pay to train a maid in Indo and bring them to SG ? what kind of maid training do they have – yet coming into SG employers still have to teach them English, teach them cooking, teach them how to wash car, how to take care of babies…endless list … before they can really help out in the family
it is all gimmick and volume churning … employers, why so blind ?
better start thinking on using part time cleaning companies and catering for food … be maidless so you won’t go mad on maids -
Hard truth, you are spot on. The maids are not serious in working, that’s why we have such problems. I hope the gov’t will set up a non profit organization to provide us the database for bio-data. So we can just direct hire ourselves without any agent involved. Afterall the agencies would have made enough from us all these years.
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No such luck on getting the govt to help, if the response (below) by a popular blog on maids issues, is representative of the govt's stand.
\"\"The MP Christopher DE souza has read my blog, specifically this page :
Singaporean employers face unfair policies
He does not think that employers need help. Instead, he is more worried about employment prospects of foreign maids.
So the sad truth is that, the garment knows about our problems but does not care. They are telliing employers that if we are unhappy with the unfair conditions, then don't employ foreign maids.\"\"
There are enough maid employers in Singapore and yet they do not make their voices heard.
They just swallow the rules and policies that come out from MOM. About time we get a Minister who is willing to listen to employers plight than the current one who does not.peapot:
I hope the gov't will set up a non profit organization to provide us the database for bio-data. So we can just direct hire ourselves without any agent involved. Afterall the agencies would have made enough from us all these years.
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verykiasu2010:
Agree with you.honestly, the trick of the game for the maid agencies is very simple -- churn the volume, whichever way you look at it, the maid agencies gain by getting more placement fees, more maids loan ..... etc.
It is all gimmick and volume churning ...... employers, why so blind ?
I have no objection to agencies running a business and making a profit but they must be honest and responsible.
Looking at the number of complaints from users we can see that they are not.
They must be held accountable. For starters.....Maybe legislate that they should deposit an amount with MOM (let MOM do some work instead of all talk only) so that employers can get their refunds from the advanced loans back from the agencies if the maids do not work out (agencies will have to be more serious in their hiring selection) and to bear the return air fare of the maids should the maids decide to break the contracts.
Why should they be allowed to apply the \"trick of the game\" on the employers?
You are also right about the \"blindness\" of employers. I hope other employers would join us and share with us on what is causing the \"blindness\". Hopefully the ideas that flow may make us see again. -
Hard Truth:
Why wait till next year to ensure that they bring in those who are serious about working?\"
They also said that from next year, they will be stricter in their selection criteria for foreign domestic workers, to ensure they bring in those who are serious about working in Singapore.
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Unbelievable!
So all the time agencies have NOT been bringing in maids who are SERIOUS about working in Singapore. They will only do it from next year?
So now we know why we have problems! Is anyone going to slap their hands?
In meantime still anyhow bring in any girl (many of them are teenage girls)/woman that they can get? -
Hard Truth:
I too think that the government wants to reduce our reliance on FDWs. So they will probably remain silent on this issue. If the conditions to hire FDWs become increasingly difficult for employers, then many employers will give up hiring foreign maids. I think that is what the government wants. Diplomatically, it makes sense (reduce the probability of cases like \"Flor Contemplacion\" from happening again).No such luck on getting the govt to help, if the respond (below) by a popular blog on maids issue is representative of the govt stand.
\"\"The MP Christopher DE souza has read my blog, specifically this page :
Singaporean employers face unfair policies
He does not think that employers need help. Instead, he is more worried about employment prospects of foreign maids.
So the sad truth is that, the garment knows about our problems but does not care. They are telliing employers that if we are unhappy with the unfair conditions, then don't employ foreign maids.\"\"
There are enough maid employers in Singapore and yet they do not make their voices heard.
They just swallow the rules and policies that come out from MOM. About time we get a Minister who is willing to listen to employers plight than the current one who does not.
But at the same time, they want us to have more children. And they want SAHP to go back to work. And they want working parents to work longer and more stressful hours (to increase productivity nationwide). And they want working parents to coach their pre-schoolers so that they can read and write before they enter Primary 1. And they allowed the education system to evolve to the state where parents today have to teach and coach their children at home for the large part of Primary school (and for some, even beyond). And they want working adults (parents included) to go for night classes to continually upgrade our skills, or risk falling behind, or worse, be made redundant. And they stressed that working adults/parents should not be so choosy, and we must be willing to take on jobs that require travelling or shift work. And they want working adults (some of whom are parents too) to care for the sick/elderly at home. And we must do all this without the extra help from maids.
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