MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 5, 2013) – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has proposed to the Department of Labor and Employment to translate the employment contract between household helpers and their employers into different local dialects to make it more understandable.
“Since they are one of the most vulnerable workers for very obvious reasons, we have to enhance the protection of our household helpers from possible onerous or disadvantageous contract that might arise or be used by abusive employers in trying to circumvent the law. They (helpers) must know what they have just entered into,” Gerard Seno, TUCP Secretary-General, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
The Kasambahay Law is an Act Instituting Policies For The Protection And Welfare of Domestic Workers. It was signed by President Benigno Aquino into law on January 18.
The law gave DOLE ninety days to come up with the implementing rules and regulations.
Seno said the TUCP made the proposal through a letter they sent to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on the occasion of the drafting of the law’s implementing rules and regulations. It requires the DOLE to draft, print and make available the copies of the employment contract but it does not say what dialect to use.
The TUCP is part of the technical working group tasked to draft the IRR.
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