Jinggoy wants 8-hour work schedule, living quarters for RP caregivers
MANILA, Philippines – A measure has been filed in the Senate to improve the working conditions of migrant domestic workers.
Senate Bill 2493, filed by Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, aims to fix the working hours of household service workers to eight hours and provide living quarters to them with a decent shelter, a library and a small clinic.
“These services will protect them should they receive physical and emotional harm from their employers,” Estrada said.
The bill said those considered as household service workers are medical related workers, caregivers and caretakers, and others who work in household setting and perform duties and tasks that respond to domestic needs of the employer.
“Being the most vulnerable members of our migrant labor force, often exposed to maltreatment and physical and verbal abuse, we must institute measures that will not only afford place of safety in times of trouble, but will also define and uphold their rights as Filipino workers,” Estrada said.
Estrada is the concurrent chairman of Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development and Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment.
He also authored and sponsored the Magna Carta for the “Kasambahay,” a landmark labor bill prescribing additional benefits for household service workers and ensuing decent working conditions for them.
Estrada was prompted to author the bill after his recent visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, both United Arab Emirates, where he personally heard stories of abuse on household service workers.
He cited the cases of at least 111 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded in Kandara District flyover in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, only to be arrested and deported by the Saudi police for abandoning their employer-hosts who abused them. - Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV
Senate Bill 2493, filed by Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, aims to fix the working hours of household service workers to eight hours and provide living quarters to them with a decent shelter, a library and a small clinic.
“These services will protect them should they receive physical and emotional harm from their employers,” Estrada said.
The bill said those considered as household service workers are medical related workers, caregivers and caretakers, and others who work in household setting and perform duties and tasks that respond to domestic needs of the employer.
“Being the most vulnerable members of our migrant labor force, often exposed to maltreatment and physical and verbal abuse, we must institute measures that will not only afford place of safety in times of trouble, but will also define and uphold their rights as Filipino workers,” Estrada said.
Estrada is the concurrent chairman of Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development and Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment.
He also authored and sponsored the Magna Carta for the “Kasambahay,” a landmark labor bill prescribing additional benefits for household service workers and ensuing decent working conditions for them.
Estrada was prompted to author the bill after his recent visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, both United Arab Emirates, where he personally heard stories of abuse on household service workers.
He cited the cases of at least 111 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded in Kandara District flyover in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, only to be arrested and deported by the Saudi police for abandoning their employer-hosts who abused them. - Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV
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