I am, however, yet to see domestic workers “down tools” and take to the streets fighting for better working conditions, including salaries.
Workers who belong in unions have no qualms about taking to the streets and voicing their disgruntlement towards their bosses. Yes they are almost always violent, but of course the union bosses will always deny this and blame a ‘foreign’ element. But we will leave that one for another day.
I pen this column in the backdrop of the recent Domestic Workers Imbizo, hosted by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant.
The imbizo was aimed at engaging domestic workers and to improve their working conditions, the general rights of workers, the effects of labour legislation on the workers and an extension of social security benefits to workers such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Compensation of Injuries and Disabilities Act and pension benefits.
Those close to me, and those who interact with me on social networks, will know how I feel about this issue and they will agree when I say this column has been a long time coming.
This column is directed to the black employers – not to say white employers don’t infringe on their domestic worker’s rights, but I am specifically directing this to the black employers because they are the ones I interact with the most. I have seen how some, if not most of them, treat their helpers/nannies.
Most black employers have no clue what workers’ rights are – unless of cause they are talking about their own rights.
If you usually attend children’s parties, I am sure you have seen mothers taking their nannies with when they attend these parties.
This baffles me because I can never understand whether the mother simply cannot stand looking after her own children, even for a few hours, or is it because they want to show everyone that they have “made it” and can now afford to hire help.
I once had a chat with a friend who is a mother and whose child is being looked after by a nanny. The nanny also lives with them.
I jokingly asked if the nanny has a day off because she is always with her when she comes to visit.
The answer was that she gets time off on Sundays when she and the child are at church and in December, when she goes home for Christmas.
I again asked the same question, to ensure I heard correctly and again she repeated her initial answer.
Not only does she work seven days a week with only a few hours off on Sundays, but she is also nowhere close to the minimum wage as stipulated by the government.
When I asked if she was paying her overtime, not only did she say no but she also said she was paying her less than what the government says she should.
Now, I am not going to talk about the wage issue because most will say “but we can’t afford to pay the minimum wage”.
Today I want to talk about the treatment these women are subjected to.
To me it does not make sense that someone who is employed, and knows her rights as a worker, would go back home and forget that those rights also apply to her employees. Why would you expect the helper/nanny to not get a day off on weekends because they must look after your child, but not get overtime pay when you expect that from your own employer?
Somebody needs to make me understand why people think it is acceptable to take a nanny with when their child is invited to a birthday party.
Most employers will say they don’t stick to the minimum wage because the helpers are living in the house and eating their food, but does that mean they should not get time off to do their own things? These women are adults, have husbands, boyfriends and families so I think it is only fair that they are given time off on weekends and public holidays to attend to their own responsibilities.
If they must look after the children on weekends, then they should be asked the same way your boss asks you to work overtime, or on weekends, when the need arises.
You cannot choose to know exploitation when it is you who is being exploited – how do you expect these women to care for your children when they are working under such conditions?
You know how you feel when your working conditions are unfavourable – sometimes you get headaches just by thinking of going to work and when you get to work, you don’t even have the motivation to perform. Now imagine you are that nanny. Will you even have the energy, let alone the desire, to look after that child? Oh by the way – that is your child she is caring for.
