Most domestic help agencies illegal

Most domestic help agencies illegal

JAKARTA (JP): The City Manpower Agency's supervision of
companies that supply domestic helpers is hindered by a lack of
funds and facilities, an official said yesterday.

R.H. Sudhartin, the head of the agency, said limited funds
prevented the agency from providing training courses for both the
suppliers and the housemaids.

"The city also doesn't have enough training facilities for the
housemaids."

Of the 76 domestic help agencies operating in the city, only
three have business permits. The rest are illegal, Sudhartin
said.

Based on manpower agency data, there are some 450,000 maids
working for about 1.7 million families in the city.

"We are implementing new registration requirements for maids
working in the city in a bid to gather accurate data on the
number of helpers and to send them to a city training program."

Sudhartin said the agency, in cooperation with the city's
statistics bureau, have so far listed 200,000 of the workers.

The city is currently conducting a pilot program, providing
free training for maids in 16 subdistricts throughout the city's
five mayoralties, he said.

The program, which started two months ago, is aimed at
improving the maids' skills, including how to use a washing
machine, electric iron and other modern household equipment, he
said.

"This year we have trained some 2,000 household helpers."

The maids are trained at the agency's subdistrict offices and
each participant receives Rp 2,500 (75 U.S. cents) for transport
costs.

"We have to teach them basic skills about how to become
household helpers because most of them come from villages and
have zero knowledge about how to live in a big city."

Sudhartin said the maids were given a certificate, a legal
contract with their employers and an identification card from the
municipality when they completed the course.

"With a contract and an identification card, the maid's
position is better protected."

Some maids are victimized because their employers are not
patient enough to teach them and they eventually start beating
the workers, he said.

The city has allocated a fund of Rp 600 million to train
domestic helpers in the 1997/1998 fiscal year.

A 31-chapter regulation on domestic help, which was issued in
June 1993, sets out the rights and obligations of agencies,
employers and the helpers themselves.

The regulation also imposes a minimum working age of 15 for
domestic helpers unless they have parental permission. It also
introduces 12 days of annual leave.

Sudhartin conceded that the huge number of illegal maid
suppliers was the result of arduous procedures for the processing
of permits.

Maid suppliers must have a building permit, sufficient
training resources, living quarters and public facilities, such
as prayer rooms and toilets.

"It's hard for the maid suppliers to meet the standards and
regulations set by the municipality," he said.

"Many illegal suppliers have shabby quarters and the maids are
housed like animals in cages." (07)