'Philippines should ensure protection of domestic workers
abroad'
The Philippines should take the lead in ensuring greater
protection for domestic workers abroad as abuses against them continue despite
their large presence across the globe.
Sen. Loren Legarda made the call, citing a report by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) on abuses and discrimination suffered by
foreign domestic workers even in wealthy European nations.
One of the cases reported by the ILO involved a certain
Coring, a Filipina domestic worker in the Netherlands, who was fired after
insisting on taking some days off from work.
Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations,
said all governments – particularly those in Europe – should ratify the ILO
Convention 189 or the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
The Senate gave its concurrence to the ratification of ILO
Convention 189 last August, making the Philippines the second country to do so
since the convention’s adoption in 2011.
“We ratified ILO Convention 189 last August, and our
advocacy for the rights of our domestic workers abroad was given unfettered
meaning. We should thus lead the global campaign for protection of domestic
workers and encourage other states to ratify the convention in order to provide
the same rights and privileges and cultivate a culture of respect for all
domestic workers the world over,” Legarda said.
Under the convention, domestic workers would be accorded the
same basic labor rights as those available to other workers such as reasonable
hours of work, weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours, a limit on in-kind
payment, clear information on terms and conditions of employment, as well as
respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, including freedom of
association and the right to collective bargaining.
She noted that there are now an estimated 1.5 million
Filipinos abroad employed as domestic workers. Almost 800,000 of them are based
in Europe.
“I echo the call of the ILO on European governments to
ratify the ILO Convention 189. The time has come for all of us to acknowledge
the contributions of our household heroes to the global workforce, no longer as
invisible hands but as domestic workers, equipped with the rights and benefits
accorded others,” Legarda said.
Legarda said that the convention is “the manifesto that
every domestic worker deserves and longs for.”
“It is an international instrument that declares domestic
work not as a favor to be granted but as an occupation to be protected. This
Convention unveils the universal rights of domestic workers,” she added.
Source: By Marvin Sy
, The Philippine Star
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