A revised agreement between Malaysia and
Indonesia provides some benefits for migrant domestic workers but fails to
provide some needed safeguards linked to low wages and high recruitment fees,
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday (Wednesday, Jakarta time).
A series of high-profile abuse cases led
Indonesia in June 2009 to ban new recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers
for jobs in Malaysia until new protections were put in place.
Indonesian Manpower and Transmigratio Minister, Muhaimin Iskandar and the
Malaysian Human esources Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam signed the
memorandum of understanding (MOU) on May 30 in Bandung, Indonesia after two
years of negotiations.
The
agreement included positive changes, Human Rights Watch said. It allows
domestic workers to keep their passports instead of having to surrender them to
their employers, and guarantees them a weekly day off. But the agreement does
not set a minimum wage, as Indonesia had wanted, and perpetuates recruitment
fee structures that leave workers indebted.
“Malaysia and Indonesia have missed an important opportunity to make changes
that would truly protect women who take on tough jobs far from home,” said
Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch.
“Indonesian domestic workers will still be handing over the first several
months of their salaries to repay recruitment fees, and they will still be
laboring long hours for pitiful wages.”
The new agreement has been finalized as governments, trade unions, and
employers’ groups around the world are about to meet in Geneva about global
labor standards for the estimated 100 million domestic workers, mostly women
and girls. Members of the International Labor Organization (ILO) will begin
negotiations on June 1 to finalize a text and vote on adopting this treaty.
The draft ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers would require
countries where they work to provide them with employment conditions no less
favourable than for other workers under the country’s laws. It would also
require written contracts for migrant domestic workers, freedom to leave the
workplace during rest periods, and guidance on issues specific to domestic
work, such as in-kind payments of room and board. In 2010, both Indonesia and
Malaysia were among a minority of governments that opposed adopting the ILO
Convention, although Indonesia has indicated it may support it this year.
“Governments around the world have been recognizing the need to end the
discrimination and neglect of workers who care for children, clean homes, and
cook meals,” said Varia. “This is a landmark moment for protecting workers’
rights, and Malaysia and Indonesia should fully support strong protections at
home and abroad instead of falling further behind.”
Until the 2009 recruitment freeze, Malaysia had 300,000 domestic workers,
most from Indonesia. Since the freeze, Malaysia has faced a shortage of domestic
workers that has partially been met by a sharp increase in domestic workers
from Cambodia.
Malaysia’s Employment Act excludes domestic workers from key labor protections
such as weekly limits on hours of work. Domestic workers have reported thousands
of complaints of abuse in Malaysia in recent years. Most involved excessively
long working hours and unpaid wages, but they also included forced confinement
in the workplace, physical and sexual violence, and forced labor.
In the absence of government regulations, employment agencies and employers
typically set domestic workers' salaries based on their country of origin
instead of their education and experience. Indonesian and Cambodian domestic
workers often work for monthly wages of 400 to 600 ringgit (US$133 to 200).
Filipina domestic workers in Malaysia earn the highest salary, at US$400 a
month, because of requirements imposed by the Philippines
government.
Malaysia has no national minimum wage, but has been considering introducing
one for private sector workers. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress advocates a
minimum wage of 900 ringgit (US$300), and the Malaysian government considers
earnings less than 750 ringgit (US$250) to fall below the national poverty
line.
“Migrant domestic workers are often desperate for jobs and have such little
bargaining power that there is a strong case for government intervention,”
Varia said. “It is a real disappointment that after such prolonged
negotiations, Malaysia refused to set a minimum wage for these easily exploited
workers.”
The two governments also agreed to cap recruitment fees at 4,511 ringgit
(US$1,500). Employers must pay the entire amount up-front but are permitted to
reclaim up to 1,800 ringgit (US$600) by cutting several months of the domestic
worker’s salary. The new agreement stipulates that no more than 50 percent of
the worker’s salary can be deducted each month. Current regulations on
recruitment fees are widely ignored.
Human Rights Watch has documented cases in which employers restrict a domestic
worker’s freedom of movement to prevent her from running away before the debt
is repaid. In other situations, domestic workers may be under such intense
financial pressure that they endure abusive employment conditions so they can
ultimately send money home.
Malaysia’s neighbor, Singapore, capped salary deductions at the equivalent
of two months of wages for domestic workers earlier this year, lower than in
the Indonesia-Malaysia agreement.
“Deducting several months of a domestic worker’s salary to repay recruitment
fees contributes to grave abuses, including forced labor, trafficking, and
conditions akin to slavery,” Varia said. “Malaysia should have followed the
lead of a number of countries in the Middle East that prohibit salary
deductions altogether.”
