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Lanka mulls minimum wages for housemaids

The Sri Lankan consulate in Dubai is contemplating of setting a minimum wage of around $250 (Dh912) against the current $150 (Dh550).

Sri Lankan Consul-General Wasantha Senanayake, told Khaleej Times, “We are thinking of setting a minimum wage of about $250. We have to take a collective decision in consultation with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Employment, Promotion and Welfare and Sri Lankan missions in other countries.”

He also stated that the revised wage, when brought into effect, would be “reasonable” considering the chores maids have to do.

He emphasised that the decision would have to be carefully studied before implementation so as to not “upset” the labour market.

Even though contracts, specifying the minimum wage, are signed between agents and the domestic workforce and endorsed by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment before they come to the UAE, often, these contracts are violated by unscrupulous agents.

“Some agents sign a second individual agreement, with a lower wage, between the employer and the housemaid after they reach UAE. We get to know of these violations only if the employee complains to us,” Senanayake conceded.

“Loopholes, of course, have to be plugged and we are studying what other countries are doing. That will help establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure that housemaids aren’t taken for a ride,” he said. Meanwhile, some housemaids in Dubai opined that if the government did raise the wage limit, it would provide relief to the hundreds of workers, striving hard to eke out a living. “It would be a good move if we are paid about Dh900 per month for the hard work we do. Presently, even if we work the whole day and night, we are paid a pittance,” says domestic worker A. Munavra.

Another housemaid SA said it would really help their families back home, if there was a wage increase. “Besides, there are times when a house sometimes has many members and we are forced to work for all of them, while being paid extremely low wages,” she said.

Aug 23 deadline for outpasses

THE Sri Lankan consulate will stop accepting applications for outpasses on August 23. Officials have posted notices on the consulate premises in various languages and inform the people about the deadline through other forms of media.

Since July 1, the consulate has issued a total of 1,834 outpasses. With women amnesty-seekers outnumbering men, it is no surprise that more than 57 per cent applicants are women. According to official statistics, till yesterday 1,049 women have applied for amnesty, while only 785 men have applied from Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

The consulate has also distributed 1,280 passports in five emirates, of which 768 belong to women.

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