Veteran labour leader Halimah Yacob recently called for the legislation of weekly days off for maids working in Singapore. This has sparked off an intense debate amongst Singaporeans. In your opinion, should the giving of weekly days off be legislated in Singapore?
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On Sunday, June 19, the Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and veteran labour leader Madam Halimah Yacob, speaking at a community sports festival at Singapore Polytechnic said that Singapore should consider making it compulsory for employers to give maids a rest day every week. This has sparked off a lot of debate from Singaporeans and even domestic maids themselves. However, the Government has called for an alternative, that is, adopting a more flexible approach of allowing households to work out a mutually agreed arrangement with their maids, and encouraging employers to grant their workers regular rest days. Accredited employment agencies use a standard employment contract for maids, which requires employers to stipulate the number of rest days each month. Should the maids agree to work on their rest day, employers are required to pay them an agreed amount of compensation.
Firstly, the term "Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs)", more commonly known as maids, refers to a female employed in domestic service. A close word, slave, refers to a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another. Although both are different in terms of the way they are treated, many employers nowadays tend to have the misconception that they employ maids to be in their control and power, and thus treating them like slaves. In this modern era, slaves have disappeared from the face of the earth due to the increasing stress on humanity rights, and this term is only used figuratively. Thus, it would be a breach on these rights if employers continue to have this mindset. Furthermore, since the history of employing maids, it has always been mandatory for employers to give their maids at least one rest day per week. Unfortunately, this is getting more and more uncommon.
Secondly, if maids are not given weekly rest days, they will just be confined to one place, which is the house. Soon, they will either become sick and tired of facing the same chores, looking at the same furniture, and enduring the same nagging and reprimanding from their employers; or they will feel terribly homesick. The latter could even possibly lead to the maid running away from the employer. This would be undesirable for the employer as they would have to pay for the security bond that they signed with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which means they would lose both money and a helper of their chores. Moreover, the salary of maids in Singapore is not the highest among all the countries in the world, which increases the chance that the maid might run to other countries such as Hong Kong or Taiwan if they do not like the environment here, and they would still get a higher pay.
Thirdly, the alternative that the Government proposed as mentioned earlier may not appeal to both employers and employees. The employers may not be willing to give their maids extra money, but still want them to provide their services on their rest days. The maids may also not want to forsake their rare freedom just for a little more money. Both parties would then disagree and may not reach a consensus in the end. Thus, the employers should give in to the maids' needs as they are so far away from their family and have already been slogging. Thus, the best way would be that the maid is given two choices: the first that they get a rest day without any pay, or they forgo their rest day to earn extra money. Either way, the maid will be contented, which is beneficial towards to both her physical and mental health. On those rest days when there is no one to do the household chores, the employer can then take over. Besides, it does not kill to just pick up a broom and pan to sweep the entire house free of dust and dirt for just one day.
In conclusion, maids should be given this privilege of having a so-called "weekly holiday". It is hoped that this can be made into a law, whereby employers will be punished accordingly if they do not follow it. This way, the maids can meet up with their friends, talk about old times and even make other new friends. The result is the maid enjoys herself and is rejuvenated enough to happily and confidently start a new week of chores. This will be much better than a grumpy maid. Her mood will be affected if this happens and in turn, affecting her work attitude. Thus, MOM should rectify any flaws in the plan in order not to offend the maids and also create a suitable and safe environment for them to labour.
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