SINGAPORE: The Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) helped to resolve 83 per cent of the 517 cases it saw at the end of its inauguration year in 2016, with the remaining cases still ongoing, according its latest social report issued on Sunday (Jan 22).
Among the foreign domestic workers cases seen, nearly half of them constituted salary disputes, requests for transfer of employer and physical abuse. Maids from Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and India also formed the bulk of those whom CDE assisted.
In a bid to reduce the number of conflicts emerging during domestic workers’ course of employment, the CDE launched a series of guidebooks to help promote healthy employer-employee relationships at its anniversary celebration on Sunday.
Handy Guides series launched at the event. (Photo Junn Loh)
Published in four different bilingual versions of English with Bahasa Indonesia, Burmese, Tagalog and Tamil, the guides consist of a series of comic illustrations about cultural differences between Singaporean employers and domestic workers.
“Having a healthy relationship is the cornerstone of any employment arrangements…a healthy relationship can help reduce the possibility of miscommunication and misunderstanding,” CDE Executive Director Shamsul Kamar said.
Meanwhile, CDE Chairman Yeo Guat Kwang also said that the centre is looking at other ways to help domestic workers. For instance, the centre is in the midst of discussions with financial institutions and remittance services to provide a more structured and reliable method for maids to receive and remit their salaries.
Moving forward, the CDE said it will continue its regular outreach activities to both maids and their employers on the potential areas of conflicts.
To better understand the attitudes and behaviours of both sides, CDE will kick start an industry survey next month. It will also open a new shelter by the middle of this year.
