Mariaam Bhatti: Tales of a Domestic Worker
As I was watching the news on RTÉ about the floods in the Philippines, I could only think of my friends in the Domestic Workers Action Group (DWAG) from that country and the many other Filipinos working around the globe as domestic workers. I imagined all their efforts to provide homes for their families over their heads gone in a minute. And I wondered if there is need to sacrifice this much in life for things that can be taken away from us in a moment, even if we worked for them all our lives.
I was thinking about that when I the news switched to the story of Filipino domestic worker in Hong Kong who saw the tragedy unfold on TV like the rest of us, noticed her home area was affected, and immediately thought of her four children back home. She asked for permission from her employer for some time off so she could go home and look for her children. But apparently her employer told her to consider herself fired and dismissed her on the spot. I couldn’t believe the employer’s behaviour – but saw the reality of it when the domestic worker was shown arriving in the Philippines with her bags to find her children.
‘How cold are some people, really?’ I thought to myself. Even where there is a matter of life and death, some employers would not release their workers to go and attend to such matters?’ Have they stopped being human beings? Only their own children’s welfare is more important than others? Wouldn’t that employer herself have done the same thing if their places were swapped? Would she have left her own children to die just to save her job? I felt my blood boil as I watched in disbelief.
Then I thought of it in our own context here in Ireland, in the developed world, where recently we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the existence of the DWAG and the advocacy work we do campaigning for rights and dignity of domestic workers in Ireland. Although we have empowered many women and have given many domestic workers a voice, we still face significant challenges such as getting justice for a number of domestic workers who worked for foreign diplomats and embassies that continue to claim diplomatic immunity.
We still see domestic labour jobs being advertised on a daily basis. A few days ago on one classified ads website I saw childminding and housekeeping jobs for at least eight hours a day, six days a week (including a day of babysitting on weekends) for a mere €80. Some may offer up to €125 a week, but when you look at the tasks and the conditions mentioned, it’s outrageous. I ask myself every day when I come across these adverts: ‘What will it take for people to understand this is exploitation of others?’ Have they ever bothered to notice that any work up to 40 hours a week is full time work, and has to be paid according to the minimum wage, at least €8.65 per hour?
I now understand though I was hired not so long ago and paid very little in a country with a minimum wage for everyone, including domestic workers. I think there will always be people who prey on the vulnerable but I think when people who do this are discovered and fined like in other countries, and be made to pay what they owe these workers, a message would be sent to others who wish to do the same. But if no example has been made of even one such employer, why should they be compelled to pay a legal wage when they know nothing will happen to them if they pay any less or treat their workers like dirt?
Mariaam Bhatti is a member of the Domestic Workers Action Group and Forced Labour Action Group of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.
