GCC states agree new contract for domestic helpers
KUWAIT CITY — Gulf labor ministers on Tuesday agreed on minimum terms in the contracts of domestic staff to improve working conditions of over 2.4 million foreign maids, an official said.
The move comes as labor ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), home to 23 million foreigners, mostly unskilled workers, are to meet with their Asian counterparts in Kuwait City this week to discuss the conditions of foreign labor in the region.
The new contract entitles domestic workers to a weekly day off, annual leave and the right to live outside their employer’s house, the director general of Kuwait’s Public Manpower Authority, Jamal Al-Dossari, said. It also limits the working day to eight hours.
“The contract has been approved by the ministers, though some countries said they have laws that are better for workers.
“The ministers agreed that the contract should be the minimum granted to workers,” Dossari said.
Under the contract, domestic helpers are also entitled to end of service indemnity and overtime pay for extra work for a maximum of two hours daily, in addition to banning employers from confiscating the workers’ passports.
Dossari said that GCC labor ministers and their counterparts from 12 Asian countries at their meeting on Wednesday-Thursday will discuss “ways to bridge the gap between the two groups and resolve problems facing workers.”
India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, which are the main sources of workers in the Gulf, are among the countries taking part.
Saudi Arabia has already taken a number of steps to protect the rights of domestic helpers. Regulations on the rights and duties of domestic helpers and sponsors, which were approved by the Council of Ministers on July 15 last year, came into force last October.
The new rules require employers to pay domestic helpers the agreed monthly salary without delay, and give them a day off each week.
Employers are also required to provide domestic helpers with suitable accommodations, as well as granting them time to rest for at least nine hours each day.
Under the new guidelines, workers are entitled to paid sick leave and a one-month paid vacation after putting in two years of work as well as end of service compensation equal to one month salary after four years.
The employer has no right to compel domestic helpers to do a job that does not come under the purview of the labor contract. — AFP
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