LMRA to focus on housemaids' hiring
Thousands of foreign housemaids are still waiting for a legal mandate to protect them and classify them in the category of "mainstream workers".
While the recruitment of foreign workers will be under the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), the hiring of housemaids remains a sponsor-maid affair.
The maids, mostly from Asian and African countries, are "not yet required" to register with the LMRA whose deadline for foreign workers expires soon.
"We will have special registration process for housemaids in line with new regulations concerning them," an LMRA official told the Tribune yesterday. "They need not enroll with the LMRA now. The plan is to register them by beginning of 2009."
Thousands of other household workers such as drivers and gardeners are also awaiting legal protection and redressal of their problems.
Unlike all other foreign workers, work permits for housemaids and household service workers will remain under the Ministry of Labour's jurisdiction.
The LMRA will take over the issuance of work permits on July 1.Excluded from the LMRA rules, foreign housemaids remain to be bonded to recruitment agents or sponsors.
Diplomats of the countries from where housemaids come from and human rights activists had earlier appealed to the government to apply safety nets in the recruitment of foreign maids. They also called for enactment of protection measures to guarantee better pay and entitlements like leave dues and dayoff provided for most workers.
Despite basic wages for maids fixed by India, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, many housemaids continue to be paid BD60 or less. Many housemaids complain against maltreatment and exploitation. Their recruitment has been linked to human-trafficking problems as rogue agents bring in underage girls to work as maids.
The Ministry of Labour had stressed that separate rules and regulations were being drafted for housemaids. Ministry officials said the rules might be finalised late this year or early 2009.
The last study undertaken by the government five years ago showed an estimated 50,000 foreign housemaids were working in the country.
Titus Filio
© Bahrain Tribune 2008
