Hopes high for maid program
In one corner of the cavernous training centre, a woman patiently strips the baby blue sheets off a queen-size bed, removing the flower-patterned pillowcases and folding them neatly to one side.
Under the watchful eye of an instructor, she then remakes the bed, carefully fluffing the pillows and making sure the bed sheet is tightly tucked under the mattress so no creases show. …
This faux home, set up at the training facility of local recruitment agency Philimore Cambodia on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, is used to train domestic workers who will soon be sent to Singapore. …
Under a pilot project signed 10 months ago between the Cambodian government and Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower, 400 maids will ink two-year contracts to work in Singaporean households by February.
If it goes well, tens of thousands of Cambodian women could eventually end up on Singaporean shores.
Three Cambodian agencies are participating in the scheme: Philimore, Ung Rithy Group and Sok Leap Metrey.
Both Ung Rithy Group – headed by the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) chief Ung Seang Rithy – and Philimore have been previously linked to a spate of cases involving the exploitation of maids sent to Malaysia, including allegations of abuse, underage workers and maids gone missing. …
But lured by the higher salary available in Singapore, as well as the perception that the rich and efficient city-state has a much stricter legal system than Malaysia, the workers at Philimore say they have no fears. …
But Bridget Tan, CEO at Singaporean anti-trafficking group Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), says that tough Singapore laws to protect workers simply don’t exist.
“I think [Cambodia] should be worried,” she said, citing the lack of a minimum wage and the fact that foreign domestic workers are not covered by Singaporean labour laws. …
“The Cambodian worker becomes popular because they are bearing the brunt of the cost and the profit. This is nothing to be happy about. It’s slavery,” she said.
Neither Singapore nor Cambodia has ratified the International Labour Organization convention on domestic workers, which guarantees that certain rights, such as normal hours of work and overtime compensation, are protected. …
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hopes-high-maid-program
