This story is published in partnership with Our Place Is Here.
By Mari-An C. Santos
- Since 2012, restrictions under the Overseas Domestic Workers visa have tied migrant domestic workers to their employers and, subsequently, made them even more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
- In response to the visa changes, Filipino domestic workers in the UK have organised themselves to protect each other from abusive employers.
- The International Labour Organisation adopted the Convention on Domestic Workers (#189) in 2011, which gives domestic workers the same labour rights as most other workers. However, until now, the United Kingdom has not ratified it.
- Domestic workers can turn to a few charities who offer free advice and training
Domestic work, by its very nature, is precarious. In an earlier article, we wrote about Emma Corpuz (not her real name) and the abuse she experienced from her employers in Saudi Arabia. Receiving a very low salary, she worked for excessively long hours and was not allowed to leave the house. She was often told off and insulted for the slightest reasons. When she was brought to the UK in 2016 for a family holiday, she was hit and slapped for not tidying their flat. She managed to escape and was found to be a victim of modern slavery and trafficking by the Home Office.
In the UK, migrant domestic workers encounter uncertainty on many fronts: precariousness of their immigrant status, dependence on the employers to whom they are tied, vulnerability to abusive or exploitative conditions, including human trafficking, among others. The global pandemic exacerbated the situation and made it more urgent to respond to their need for rights and protections under UK law. Organisations and networks are making concerted efforts to assert the importance of caring for the welfare of migrant domestic workers, especially on two fronts: the Overseas Domestic Worker visa and the ILO Domestic Workers Convention.
UK policies for migrant domestic workers
Before 2012, the UK offered more protection to overseas domestic workers. In 1998, it introduced the Overseas Domestic Worker (ODW) visa which allowed domestic workers to accompany their employers to Britain for a period of six to 12 months. They could change employers, bring their dependents to the UK and after five years, they could apply to settle in the country. The ODW visa was the result of a campaign by domestic workers, trade unions and charities against the lack of protection for migrant domestic workers from abuse and exploitation.
All these changed in 2012 when the UK government adopted the hostile environment policy which tightened immigration controls for migrants. The Home Office made substantial changes to the terms of the ODW visa: domestic workers are now given only a six-month non-renewable visa, they are tied to their employers who brought them to the UK, and they have no route to settlement.
These changes go against the Domestic Workers’ Convention (Convention 189) which seeks to grant basic labour rights to domestic workers. This includes the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, harassment and violence which many Filipino overseas domestic workers face. The convention was adopted in 2011 but the UK has yet to ratify it.
Labour policy in the Philippines
In the Philippines, the government adopts a labour export policy which was started in the 1970s as a temporary solution to the lack of employment opportunities for Filipinos in their own country. This policy continues to this day so that several government agencies have been established to address the issues that arise for the category termed as “overseas Filipino workers” or OFWs.
The newly formed Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) seeks to organise the various government agencies attending to the needs of OFWs under one umbrella, among them the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA), the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) and all Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO).
In media interviews, new DMW secretary Susan Ople has said that her priority is to organise the department in such a way that all services and personnel focus on “migrant workers’ rights welfare and protection from application to return; [as well as] to help make OFW families’ income sustainable.”
Supporting domestic workers
Organisations – and domestic workers themselves – have taken action in the face of the Philippines’ labour migration policy and the UK’s strict immigration laws.
The changes to the ODW visa (also accurately coined as a tied visa¨) which tied workers to their employers led to the founding of the Filipino Domestic Workers Association-UK in 2013.
Since then, they have mobilised efforts to help victims of abuse and exploitation not only by rescuing them from dire situations but also by providing them information about the rights as migrant domestic workers. In this way, “we have become a self-help group for domestic helpers,” says Helen Rios of FDWA-UK.
Kalayaan, established in 1987, was formed to campaign for the recognition of migrant domestic workers in the UK so as not to leave them vulnerable and in a precarious position. Kalayaan has since then advocated for policy changes so that migrant domestic workers can access their rights and the justice system. The charity also supports them by offering English language classes and referral for those needing legal advice.
Meanwhile, Kanlungan (loosely translated, “kanlungan” means: safe haven or shelter) consists of several Filipino and Southeast and East Asian migrant community organisations advocating for their rights and welfare since 1994. They, too, have been at the forefront of education and training to better empower migrant domestic workers.
Kanlungan has provided access to legal advice, creative workshops, and skills training programmes to be qualified to work in the health/social care sector and hospitality/culinary industry; as well as mental health and well-being support. They also strongly demand for socio-economic reforms in the Philippines that will make decent jobs available to more Filipinos.
At the height of the pandemic, they distributed basic necessities to vulnerable members of the community, referred immigration issues for legal advice, supported those at risk for violence at home and the workplace, and led the #FilipinoFood4NHS project. They have campaigned on a number of issues over the years including reinstating the pre-2012 Overseas Domestic Worker visa and the Status Now 4 All campaign in direct response to the further challenges brought to migrants by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another organisation supporting Filipino domestic workers is TAYO International, an early stage startup that supports migrant domestic workers. This year, their focus is on nurturing an online learning community through their Facebook Group that gathers Filipino domestic workers all over the world – from Hongkong to Pakistan.
According to Tanya Aritao, who heads TAYO, “Our online community provides a space where our members can express themselves, build connections, and keep learning at any age or stage of their lives.” In relation to TAYO’s financial education sessions, Anne, a member in the UK shares “I’m so grateful for being part of this community because it has made a difference in my life. I’ve learned a lot how to manage my finances [through] 80-10-10 and smart goals.”
Aritao is working in partnership with The Voice of Domestic Workers (VoDW), delivering online financial literacy sessions to its network, the UK community being their second largest group. VoDW is an education and campaign group composed of migrant domestic workers from the Philippines and elsewhere who are actively calling for improved living and working conditions for their sector. They also conduct various classes running the gamut of IT and English language to health and wellness.
One Repatriation Center
Very recently, the Philippines Department of Migrant Workers launched the One Repatriation Center which, according to Secretary Ople, will be the one-stop command centre to help migrant workers who urgently need to come home. The One Repat Centre will be accessible 24 hours a day, every day of the week through DMW-OWWA Hotline 1348 and email address repat@dmw.gov.ph.
The service is open to all overseas Filipino workers (and their family members), whatever their status. According to Bernard Olalia of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, more than 9,000 Filipinos sought assistance for repatriation in 2019, mostly due to maltreatment experienced in the hands of their employers. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 6,000 sought repatriation.
Through various programmes, Our Place is Here is building a community to support, empower, and uplift the conditions of migrant domestic workers. It is not a struggle exclusively for migrant domestic workers to grapple with, however. There are many ways you, too, can help. Read our related article how you can help Filipino domestic workers.
Top photo credit: iStock/Nadzeya_Dzivakova
Our Place Is Here is a campaign by a coalition of charities and community groups to raise peoplés awareness on the lack of workers´ rights by Filipino domestic workers in the UK. It aims to build community support for their demands for a minimum wage or sick pay, among others. Read more about how you can support the campaign.
If you or someone you know has been affected by human trafficking, modern-day slavery, or exploitation, you can contact the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline: 08000 121 700.
Kung ikaw o may kakilala ka na biktima ng human trafficking, pang-aalipin, o pang-aabuso, pwede mong kontakin ang Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline: 08000 121 700.
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