BRUSSELS, Belgium – While many domestic helpers enjoy the benefits of having a good life in Belgium, there's still a significant number of Filipino domestic workers who complain of unfair treatment from their employers.

The low salary and long hours of work are just some reasons which, according to them, make their lives more miserable.

Criselda (not her real name) admitted having a diplomatic identification card and has been working for her Greek employers for several years. But she complained of very low salary, which is way below the standard pay rate set by the Belgian authority.

“I have diplomatic ID. My employers are Greek diplomats. I work as a live-in domestic helper which means I start working at 7 in the morning until 9 in the evening everyday. I am only allowed 1 half day per week which is Sunday afternoon which I use to attend mass. But I only receive 605 euros monthly”, she said.

According to the Belgian labor market, the minimum wage of a normal employee is 1387 euros per month, and that includes domestic helpers. The normal working hours is 38 hours a week which means that an hourly rate of an employee is 9 euros. Overtime should also be paid. An employee is also required to have a day off on the 7th day of the week.

In a year, an employee is entitled to at least 28 days of paid leaves and a 13th month pay which he or she gets once he goes on holiday. This is apart from the 10 national holidays set by the government such as Christmas, New Year and Belgian Independence Day.

But these benefits don’t apply to some Pinoy domestic workers.
 
Some who refused to be identified claimed that their employers asked them to sign their contracts even if they hadn’t read it yet. And because the poor domestic helpers feel indebted to their employers for the working permit given to them, they willingly obliged.

“Our employers would ask us to sign the contract without giving us enough time to read it. We don’t know our rights and our benefits. Our employers would always remind us that they are giving us a fortune for working as domestic helpers and that we don’t have the right to complain”, another Filipino said.

It is for this reason why Organisatie Voor Clandesteine Arbeidsmigranten (ORCA), an organization for undocumented migrants, plans to make a proposition to Belgian authority.

“We would like to make a proposition to policy makers to make some changes because the situation as it is now, there is very few legal opportunities and because of this lack of opportunities, we see that people stay in conditions that are really bad working conditions. And basically, the first thing to do [to] change this abuse is to create more legal opportunities and within the legal frame, it’s also better to protect workers,” ORCA lawyer Elke Gutierrez said.

ORCA’s recommendation to policy makers are as follows:

•    To develop a new third party system where the employer is the agency not the family
•    There should be validation of skills/trainings/quality label in order to increase appreciation for domestic work
•    The salary should be dependent on the tasks of the domestic helper. Specific tasks such as childcare or combination of various tasks should be paid more
•    The government should issue working permits on a more realistic basis
•    Work permits should not be tied to one specific employer but issued to work on specific sector
•    There should be a bilateral agreement on the transfer of social security of domestic helpers
•    Decent shelter for live-in domestic helpers.