My domestic helper of 6 years decided not to renew her contract last November. This caused some inconvenience for us. Domestic helper issues has always been something that Singaporeans can never have enough to talk about.
Initially we were adamant on hiring a Filipino when our ex worker confirmed that she would not renew her contract when we asked her. Then the news media brought us some unfortunate news.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) started to enforce the minimum wage for Filipinos working outside their country. It is a sum of US$450 per month, which is pretty low to many people in developed or developing countries. For Singaporeans who hire Filipino domestic workers, it meant that the minimum wage to pay a Filipino domestic worker is now about S$600 per month. This doesn't sound so much except that it is almost 50% more than what was normally paid to a Filipino domestic worker without any experience. It was reported that foreign domestic workers can command higher salaries in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Singaporean employers pay less here because the foreign worker levy imposed for hiring foreign domestic worker is included in the monthly cost involved in hiring such a worker. The monthly cost also includes accommodation, food and toiletries. I am not familiar with the employment terms and conditions in Hong Kong and Taiwan so I am not in a position to comment on whether we are making a fair comparison when we use just the monthly salary as a basis.
This enforcement created a shortage of demand for "new" Filipino domestic workers and a surge in demand for "transfer" Filipino domestic workers. Some agencies started advertising for availability open to workers to transfer to Hong Kong or Taiwan in Singapore. Some employers could not bring their workers out of Singapore due to lack of a contract supporting the minimum wage. Some agencies tried to make clarifications that the employement contract that is binding in Singapore is the one signed in Singapore and not the one presented to the POEA for work visa application in Philippines. Some people word the employment contract such that the wage paid is inclusive of the foreign worker levy, making it the burden of the domestic worker to pay the levy out of their now higher monthly salary, making them cash neutral at the end of the day. Some stories about how domestic workers felt about the conditions working in Singapore were published. To make the situation worse, there was some news about Indonesian domestic workers committing heinous crimes in Singapore - one was involved in the murder of a child and I vaguely remember the murder of an elderly person in another (but I could be wrong about the 2nd case).
We didn't want to take the risk of trying to bring in a Filipino domestic worker by allowing the employment agent to manipulate the employement contract. It is too risky and considering that I travel to Philippines for work quite often, I didn't want to be detained at the Philippine immigration for unnecessary questioning. So we decided to hire a work from Myanmmar. I wasn't favourable of hiring an Indonesian because of the many stories of violent Indonesians being circulated. I know that I shouldn't stereo type but I didn't want to try my luck.
We went to a medium sized employment agent and selected a worker from Myanmmar. The paperwork was complete and the week before the worker was due to arrive, the Myanmmar government called for elections. The agent called to say that all travel from Myanmmar was frozen. So we asked our helper to extend her stay for 2 weeks. We made arrangements for her repatriation and had to pay a fine for not renewing her contract on time. I was pretty upset with the Ministry of Manpower because I wrote in to ask for an extension due to the circumstances we were in. But I had more important things on hand than to fight with the ministry over a $100 fine.
A couple of days before the replacement worker was due to arrive, we made confirmations with the agent. That's when I found out I had to pay the fine before I could make arrangements to repatriation my ex-worker. We made all the arrangements for my worker to leave on the same day the replacement worker was due to arrive. The day before she was due to leave Singapore, the agent called to say that the replacement will be one day late. Urgh! Then on the day of my worker's departure, the agent called to say the worker didn't show up at the airport!!!!!
To be continued.....
No comments:
Post a Comment