Certify bill on househelp as urgent, Aquino urged
The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) on Saturday called on President Benigno Aquino III to certify as urgent the kasambahay bill pending in the House of Representatives.
PM national chair Renato Magtubo said the President should certify the bill—which gives additional benefits and protection to household help —as urgent so that the country could ratify the new international Convention on Domestic Workers.
The Philippines was one of the countries that led the campaign to ratify the convention at the recent International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
“P-Noy (Aquino) should lead the housekeeping chore and push decisively for the passage of the kasambahay bill so that the Philippines can ratify the Convention on Domestic Workers. If P-Noy gives the marching orders to the House majority, there is no reason for the kasambahay bill not to be passed,” Magtubo said.
“Domestic workers at home and aboard deserve to be treated as workers, not slaves, who should enjoy the mantle of protection of core labor standards. For too long, domestic workers have labored without the rights, benefits and protection enjoyed by other workers,” he said.
He also appealed to the House labor committee to fast-track the hearing on the kasambahay bill.
“We expect the members of the House laborcom who were labor’s allies in shepherding the security of tenure bill to show the same political will to push the kasambahay bill,” Magtubo said.
The security of tenure bill, which provides for stricter regulation of contractual employment, was passed by the House labor committee but has yet to be scheduled for plenary debate.
The Convention on Domestic Workers 2011 was approved in plenary during the 100th General Assembly of the ILO in Geneva on June 16 by a vote of 396 to 16, with 63 abstentions, and the accompanying Recommendation by a vote of 434 to 8, with 42 abstentions.
“We are moving the standards system of the ILO into the informal economy for the first time, and this is a breakthrough of great significance. History is being made,” said ILO Secretary General Juan Somavia in a statement.
A convention is an international treaty that is binding on the member-states that ratify it, while a recommendation provides more detailed guidance on how to apply the convention.
The convention defines domestic work as work performed in or for a household or households. While the new instruments cover all domestic workers, they provide for special measures to protect those workers who, because of their young age or nationality or live-in status, may be exposed to additional risks relative to their peers, among others.
On Friday, acting Labor Secretary Danilo Cruz said the ILO’s adoption of the international convention on household service workers was a “major victory” for the Philippines.
He said the convention “provides a mantle of protection” for Filipino domestic workers worldwide.
“They are now covered by international labor standards. It sets requirements for the number of working hours and also provides for a specific 24-hour continuous rest day a week,” Cruz said.
