Standard Contract Route Not Effective

A year having passed since the contract was introduced, there should have been evidence that up to 50,000 more domestic workers were enjoying a regular day off if the contract was an effective means of securing that, but we have seen nothing of the kind. It is a fact that to this day, would-be employers who go to an agency and say that they want a ‘no day off maid’ get one.

TWC2 issued the following press release to the print and broadcast media the day before the anniversary, to alert them to the failure of the standard contract to remedy this intolerable situation: regrettably,none reported the press release or produced any articles or comments based upon it.

A regular day off for domestic workers:
The Standard Contract Route Is Not Working: It is Time For It To Be Made Law

On September 15th 2006, a new standard employment contract for domestic workers was due to be implemented across the whole of the employment agency industry in Singapore. Its terms had been agreed by the two accreditation bodies for agencies, the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and CASETrust.

A key feature of the contract was the clause concerning time off for the worker. It gave signatories the options of agreeing that the worker should have one, two, three or four days off per month. In theory, this meant that the worker could be sure of receiving at least one day a month when she could relax and go out to spend her time as she chose.

Unfortunately, this provision was undermined by another that allowed an employer to pay a worker extra money on top of her regular wage to give up her time off.

TWC2 expressed its concern that the new standard contract would not solve the problem of the denial of time off to domestic workers by over half of their employers. The difficulties we highlighted included the likelihood that the 'extra money for no day off' provision presented a very easy means for domestic workers to be denied a day off for the entire duration of their working years in Singapore. Faced with pressure to accept no day off or otherwise not get a job, most new workers would feel obliged to sign their agreement.

A year has now passed since the standard employment contract came into effect, and it is time to assess how effective it has been in ensuring that domestic workers receive at least one day off each month. Since contracts come up for renewal every two years, new workers have continued to come to Singapore throughout the past 12 months, and about 50 per cent of domestic workers already had days off, that ought to mean that roughly 75 per cent of domestic workers should have regular days off by now.

This has evidently not happened. Far from it: TWC2 does not see evidence of any significant change in the proportion of domestic workers having a regular day off. Our domestic worker contacts report that workers with whom they have been in contact in households that denied them time off are still refused a day off; in the first seven months of our helpline’s operation (19th December 2006-31st July 2007), 16 per cent of calls concerned no day off or overwork (long hours of work with inadequate time to rest).

The standard contract is not used by all agencies. The general practice, where it is in use, seems to be to accept unquestioningly the wishes of employers who don't want to give a day off to their domestic workers, and point out how they can do that. Indeed, TWC2 has heard from some would-be employers of domestic workers who told us that the agencies they approached informed them that they could arrange 'no day off' workers without them even asking.

Everyone needs time off, whatever his or her job. TWC2 believes that domestic workers should have a weekly day off by right. It should be protected from any inducement to make them sign it away. This measure ought to be introduced by the government as a law or regulation. It is unfair to expect agencies, which have to operate in competition with each other and offer appealing terms to customers who want to employ domestic workers, to promote a regular day off for domestic workers - and we say that knowing that there are individual agents who do try their best to encourage employers to give a day off to their domestic workers.

Our view is that the case for a regular day off for domestic workers has been established: there are no arguments based on justice and fairness that can stand up against it. In TWC2's view, all interested parties should now embrace the principle of a regular day off and concentrate their attentions on the practicalities of introducing it so that all who labour for a living in the territory of Singapore may enjoy this basic entitlement.

Transient Workers Count Too
15th September 2007