2006 January
Why Wouldn't You Want Time Off?
(This represents a personal opinion. It would be good to have feedback on the issues it raises, particularly as we are bound to run into them again and need to be able to respond in a well informed way.)
In the past year, the idea that foreign domestic workers should have time off has won greater support. The Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and CaseTrust came up with a standard contract that calls for workers to receive at least one day off a month; TWC2 argues for a day off each week.
When the issue was reported in the press, there were articles that quoted some domestic workers as saying that they did not want time off, or that they were satisfied with just one or two days a month.
A first response by 'time off advocates' might be to question how representative such voices are. After all, complaints recorded at embassies, the study by Sri Palupi and others on Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore conducted last year, and our own experience all suggest that most foreign domestic workers feel that their working hours are too long and they need more time to rest and relax. There would be a big welcome from most for a regular day off.
But those voices that say otherwise should not be dismissed. Instead, it is worth while considering what they say and what prompts them to say it.
Some choose to stay home because they did not want to waste money unnecessarily. Filipina Jenny Astom, 40, has not taken a day off in 13 years because of this. Also, the family she works for treats her as part of the family. Their two sons respect her.
"I'm like their second mother."
'Most foreign maids happy working here', Dawn Wong and Lee Hui Chieh, 'Sunday Times', 28th July 2002. The article was based on the responses given by 100 domestic workers who were asked during the previous work whether they liked working in Singapore.
Some say they don't want a day off because they don't want to spend money eating out. Eight per cent say they prefer to stay home on their days off. Half of the maids surveyed also said they don't get a day off - but for some, this is by choice.
Madam Tuami said: "I prefer to work on my days off because I can get more money."
Miss Sumiwati, 25, of Indonesia, who has been working here for two years, said her employer does not allow her to go out for fear that she will mix with "bad company" and get pregnant.
"I don't like to go out anyway because I don't have friends so it's OK," she said.'
'A Maid's Life', Arlina Arshad, 'Sunday Times', 28th December 2003. The article was based on a poll of 284 foreign domestic workers conducted between 24th November and 14th December 2003 and interviews with five workers.
"I don't want to have a day off. My husband also doesn't like...I have two children, I come to Singapore to work to earn more money," said a Shyamalee, a maid from Sri Lanka.
('MOM will not mandate four rest days a month for maids', Today, 8th June 2005.)
I might add, from personal experience, that I recently asked an Indonesian woman who had just begun to work for a new employer why she did not go out on her first day off, and she said that she wanted to save money and I have heard of other women who say that they don't want to spend money going out because they need to send it home. I have also heard indirectly of women who have said that their husbands at home do not like them to go out on their days off in case they meet other men.
The reasons for staying in fall into two categories - the economic and the moral (This is to set aside part of Sumiwati's statement, which is a circular argument: she doesn't like to go out because she doesn't have friends, but surely she doesn't have friends because she doesn't go out?)
In the first case, women are either concerned to save the money they earn or want to have the 'extra money' they are paid in return for working without taking time off. This doesn't so much support a case for 'no day off' as one for better pay and a well-publicised range of options for how to spend free time.
For women who are paid at very low rates, the sum of $20 or $30 for working on a Sunday seems a lot, and if they are told that they will be paid that in return for not taking a day off, or that this is what will be taken out of their salary if they do want a day off, it is understandable that some will decide to forego a day of rest. Yet it isn't good for their health and wellbeing, and would they think the same way if their basic salary was higher?
The desire to avoid spending money unnecessarily is familiar to anyone who has had to scrape along on a limited income at some point in life. Discovering cheap places to eat, free entertainments, places to meet friends that cost little or nothing -all these things can seem like real blessings. Many foreign domestic workers who go out manage to keep their spending limited: their main activity is meeting friends and talking, which is a valuable form of recreation in itself.
As for women who are concerned about a moral danger, as in the example above, it is not so much that those who raise this issue doubt their own judgement and sense of responsibility: it is more that they worry about what others, especially husbands back home, might think of them. Maybe they would feel more confident about going out if they knew of a range of places that they could go to where they would feel less vulnerable to unwanted attentions or suspicions, including some all-women environments or places of study and skill development.
We need to take account of views that suggest that some women might choose to work on a day off and accept that it will suit some of them at some times, but how foreign domestic workers choose to spend their free time should be seen as a question that is quite distinct from that of the right to have a regular day off. That should be regarded as basic and undeniable.
(This represents a personal opinion. It would be good to have feedback on the issues it raises, particularly as we are bound to run into them again and need to be able to respond in a well informed way.)
In the past year, the idea that foreign domestic workers should have time off has won greater support. The Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and CaseTrust came up with a standard contract that calls for workers to receive at least one day off a month; TWC2 argues for a day off each week.
When the issue was reported in the press, there were articles that quoted some domestic workers as saying that they did not want time off, or that they were satisfied with just one or two days a month.
A first response by 'time off advocates' might be to question how representative such voices are. After all, complaints recorded at embassies, the study by Sri Palupi and others on Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore conducted last year, and our own experience all suggest that most foreign domestic workers feel that their working hours are too long and they need more time to rest and relax. There would be a big welcome from most for a regular day off.
But those voices that say otherwise should not be dismissed. Instead, it is worth while considering what they say and what prompts them to say it.
Some choose to stay home because they did not want to waste money unnecessarily. Filipina Jenny Astom, 40, has not taken a day off in 13 years because of this. Also, the family she works for treats her as part of the family. Their two sons respect her.
"I'm like their second mother."
'Most foreign maids happy working here', Dawn Wong and Lee Hui Chieh, 'Sunday Times', 28th July 2002. The article was based on the responses given by 100 domestic workers who were asked during the previous work whether they liked working in Singapore.
Some say they don't want a day off because they don't want to spend money eating out. Eight per cent say they prefer to stay home on their days off. Half of the maids surveyed also said they don't get a day off - but for some, this is by choice.
Madam Tuami said: "I prefer to work on my days off because I can get more money."
Miss Sumiwati, 25, of Indonesia, who has been working here for two years, said her employer does not allow her to go out for fear that she will mix with "bad company" and get pregnant.
"I don't like to go out anyway because I don't have friends so it's OK," she said.'
'A Maid's Life', Arlina Arshad, 'Sunday Times', 28th December 2003. The article was based on a poll of 284 foreign domestic workers conducted between 24th November and 14th December 2003 and interviews with five workers.
"I don't want to have a day off. My husband also doesn't like...I have two children, I come to Singapore to work to earn more money," said a Shyamalee, a maid from Sri Lanka.
('MOM will not mandate four rest days a month for maids', Today, 8th June 2005.)
I might add, from personal experience, that I recently asked an Indonesian woman who had just begun to work for a new employer why she did not go out on her first day off, and she said that she wanted to save money and I have heard of other women who say that they don't want to spend money going out because they need to send it home. I have also heard indirectly of women who have said that their husbands at home do not like them to go out on their days off in case they meet other men.
The reasons for staying in fall into two categories - the economic and the moral (This is to set aside part of Sumiwati's statement, which is a circular argument: she doesn't like to go out because she doesn't have friends, but surely she doesn't have friends because she doesn't go out?)
In the first case, women are either concerned to save the money they earn or want to have the 'extra money' they are paid in return for working without taking time off. This doesn't so much support a case for 'no day off' as one for better pay and a well-publicised range of options for how to spend free time.
For women who are paid at very low rates, the sum of $20 or $30 for working on a Sunday seems a lot, and if they are told that they will be paid that in return for not taking a day off, or that this is what will be taken out of their salary if they do want a day off, it is understandable that some will decide to forego a day of rest. Yet it isn't good for their health and wellbeing, and would they think the same way if their basic salary was higher?
The desire to avoid spending money unnecessarily is familiar to anyone who has had to scrape along on a limited income at some point in life. Discovering cheap places to eat, free entertainments, places to meet friends that cost little or nothing -all these things can seem like real blessings. Many foreign domestic workers who go out manage to keep their spending limited: their main activity is meeting friends and talking, which is a valuable form of recreation in itself.
As for women who are concerned about a moral danger, as in the example above, it is not so much that those who raise this issue doubt their own judgement and sense of responsibility: it is more that they worry about what others, especially husbands back home, might think of them. Maybe they would feel more confident about going out if they knew of a range of places that they could go to where they would feel less vulnerable to unwanted attentions or suspicions, including some all-women environments or places of study and skill development.
We need to take account of views that suggest that some women might choose to work on a day off and accept that it will suit some of them at some times, but how foreign domestic workers choose to spend their free time should be seen as a question that is quite distinct from that of the right to have a regular day off. That should be regarded as basic and undeniable.
And for less...
A ministerial committee has proposed a $1 billion package of measures to help raise the incomes of around 150,000 workers who earn $900 or less a month. Many of these workers are the main or sole earners for their families and managing on such an amount must be very hard.
Cleaners, odd-job labourers, hawker assistants are among the lowest paid Singaporean workers, found Lydia Lim, writing in 'The Straits Times' ('Slog all day for $700 a month? Some do', 21st January 2006). She interviewed a cleaner whose take home hovered around $700 a month for working an eight hour day: he had a wife and three children to support.
Who would begrudge people in this position help and a chance to earn a higher income? But if the public is invited to sympathise - as it should - with Singaporeans in such a plight, why should the position of people in our midst who are even worse off be ignored? $700 is a sum way beyond the reach of the great majority of foreign domestic workers, even though they normally work substantially more than eight hours a day.
While on that subject: Ministry of Manpower officials last year found out that Nantong Qidong Construction had made four workers labour for more than 12 hours a day on 24 occasions early in 2005. A court slapped a $24,000 fine on the company ('Staff Overworked: Firm fined $24,000', 'Straits Times', 2nd December 2005)
The firm was penalised because it had contravened the Employment Act, which stipulates that it is an offence to deploy workers for over 12 hours a day.
The report concludes:
'An MOM spokesman said overtime work is limited to 72 hours a month and the limits are to ensure that workers get adequate rest and that their safety and health are not put at risk due to risk.'
Many domestic workers work 15 hours and more each day of the week, or 7 hours plus over and above the standard eight hour day, amounting to 210 hours or more every month even if no provision is made for the right to a day off. This means that they perform about three times the maximum overtime for other categories of worker every month, but this is legal, as they are not covered by the Employment Act.
Cheated in Terminal Three
TWC2 has heard disturbing accounts from time to time of the conditions awaiting Indonesian domestic workers who return home through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. Terminal Three is closed to the public and is supposed to be dedicated to meeting the needs of returning domestic workers, especially those in transit to domestic flights, but it is not a secure place for them.
There have been persistent reports of women being harassed by men who try to cheat them out of their hard-earned money. A typical ploy is for a man to present himself as an official and tell a woman that she has to fill in certain forms, but that he will help her for a fee. Another is to pick up her bags to 'help' her, and then refuse to return them until they are paid the money they demand. Sometimes a man says that he needs to see a woman's passport and then refuses to give it back until she pays him.
Real officials and the police often seem to be in league with these parasites; they do not come to the women's help even when directly asked.
'The New Paper' carried an extended report on this issue recently ('They won't return bags if I don't pay', Seto Nu-Wen, 28th December 2005). It ends by mentioning defence tactics used by some women.
One is to try to find a direct flight to a home town, if that is possible. Another is to carry less money by sending most of it home in advance. Some are reported to hide the money they have in secret pockets inside their clothes or in their underwear. One woman who did this, Siti Sapriyanti Mohd Abduh, did this and says,"When the touts approach, I take out my wallet and show them I have no money so they leave me alone."
The issue has been taken up by a number of Indonesian NGOs, including Migrant Care and the Institute of EcoSoc Rights, whose researcher, Sri Palupi, wrote a report on conditions at Terminal Three and another facility for returning domestic workers, published in 2004.
Publicising the problem among new Indonesian domestic workers can help; young women who have not travelled through the terminal before are the most vulnerable. This will largely need to be done by word of mouth; we can do our bit through TWC2's members and contacts.
A ministerial committee has proposed a $1 billion package of measures to help raise the incomes of around 150,000 workers who earn $900 or less a month. Many of these workers are the main or sole earners for their families and managing on such an amount must be very hard.
Cleaners, odd-job labourers, hawker assistants are among the lowest paid Singaporean workers, found Lydia Lim, writing in 'The Straits Times' ('Slog all day for $700 a month? Some do', 21st January 2006). She interviewed a cleaner whose take home hovered around $700 a month for working an eight hour day: he had a wife and three children to support.
Who would begrudge people in this position help and a chance to earn a higher income? But if the public is invited to sympathise - as it should - with Singaporeans in such a plight, why should the position of people in our midst who are even worse off be ignored? $700 is a sum way beyond the reach of the great majority of foreign domestic workers, even though they normally work substantially more than eight hours a day.
While on that subject: Ministry of Manpower officials last year found out that Nantong Qidong Construction had made four workers labour for more than 12 hours a day on 24 occasions early in 2005. A court slapped a $24,000 fine on the company ('Staff Overworked: Firm fined $24,000', 'Straits Times', 2nd December 2005)
The firm was penalised because it had contravened the Employment Act, which stipulates that it is an offence to deploy workers for over 12 hours a day.
The report concludes:
'An MOM spokesman said overtime work is limited to 72 hours a month and the limits are to ensure that workers get adequate rest and that their safety and health are not put at risk due to risk.'
Many domestic workers work 15 hours and more each day of the week, or 7 hours plus over and above the standard eight hour day, amounting to 210 hours or more every month even if no provision is made for the right to a day off. This means that they perform about three times the maximum overtime for other categories of worker every month, but this is legal, as they are not covered by the Employment Act.
Cheated in Terminal Three
TWC2 has heard disturbing accounts from time to time of the conditions awaiting Indonesian domestic workers who return home through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. Terminal Three is closed to the public and is supposed to be dedicated to meeting the needs of returning domestic workers, especially those in transit to domestic flights, but it is not a secure place for them.
There have been persistent reports of women being harassed by men who try to cheat them out of their hard-earned money. A typical ploy is for a man to present himself as an official and tell a woman that she has to fill in certain forms, but that he will help her for a fee. Another is to pick up her bags to 'help' her, and then refuse to return them until they are paid the money they demand. Sometimes a man says that he needs to see a woman's passport and then refuses to give it back until she pays him.
Real officials and the police often seem to be in league with these parasites; they do not come to the women's help even when directly asked.
'The New Paper' carried an extended report on this issue recently ('They won't return bags if I don't pay', Seto Nu-Wen, 28th December 2005). It ends by mentioning defence tactics used by some women.
One is to try to find a direct flight to a home town, if that is possible. Another is to carry less money by sending most of it home in advance. Some are reported to hide the money they have in secret pockets inside their clothes or in their underwear. One woman who did this, Siti Sapriyanti Mohd Abduh, did this and says,"When the touts approach, I take out my wallet and show them I have no money so they leave me alone."
The issue has been taken up by a number of Indonesian NGOs, including Migrant Care and the Institute of EcoSoc Rights, whose researcher, Sri Palupi, wrote a report on conditions at Terminal Three and another facility for returning domestic workers, published in 2004.
Publicising the problem among new Indonesian domestic workers can help; young women who have not travelled through the terminal before are the most vulnerable. This will largely need to be done by word of mouth; we can do our bit through TWC2's members and contacts.