Labor chief weighs in on ‘yaya meal’ brouhaha

By: Tina G. Santos - 10 years ago

WELCOME Pavilion of Alphaland Balesin Island Club next to the island’s paved runway. FILE PHOTO

While it does not violate any labor laws, a “yaya meal” is discriminatory and treats household staff as second-class citizens, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said on Thursday.

Baldoz reminded employers that house help had a right to be treated with dignity.

She issued the statement following a post on Facebook decrying exclusive Balesin Island Club’s offering of “yaya meals” for the nannies, maids and drivers of members and guests different from the regular resort fare.

“The news that broke out this Easter weekend involving a kasambahay being treated as a second-class person in an exclusive luxurious resort could be considered a discriminatory act, but not in the context of labor laws and social legislation,” Baldoz said.

Although labeling the food a “yaya meal” does not violate any labor law or social legislation, Baldoz said the term “sadly reflects a sociocultural reality where some segments of our society still look down on kasambahay as a grade lower than ordinary citizens.”

“The Department of Labor and Employment is very much concerned that while efforts such as the ILO (International Labor Organization) Domestic Workers Convention and Republic Act No. 10361, or the Kasambahay Law, are being pursued toward giving recognition to kasambahay as members of the formal work force who contribute to the economic growth of our country, acts which tend to downgrade their socioeconomic level and imply class segregation, like making reference to a “yaya meal,” whether intentional or not, robs the kasambahay of their dignity as workers,” she said.

Baldoz appealed to business establishments, other employers and all Filipinos to refrain from acts or utterances that show disrespect for the socioeconomic status of house help.

“We urge that they be treated with respect in the same manner that we treat other formal sector workers whose labor fuel the engines of business in the first place,” she said.