DOHA: GCC states may soon have a common job contract for domestic workers which would entitle them to a weekly day off, annual leave and eight hours of work in a day.
The workers will also be entitled to end-of-service benefits.
They would have the right to stay outside the home of their employer and would not be asked to put in more than two hours of extra work a day, for which they will get additional payment.
Undersecretaries from labour ministries of GCC member-states met in Kuwait yesterday and agreed on minimum terms in the contracts of domestic workers.
According to Kuwait News Agency (Kuna), the terms are to be tabled in the form of a proposal at the meeting of GCC labour ministers for approval. Once approved, the terms could be implemented soon, Kuna said, quoting Jamal Al Dossari, director-general of Kuwait’s Public Manpower Authority.
The employers of domestic workers, including maids, cannot keep their passports with them. They will have to allow the workers to travel overseas whenever they would like to and provide them with air tickets once a year (with annual leave).
“The freedom of movement of domestic workers cannot be restricted,” Al Dossari said.
Meanwhile, international rights organisations that want to make remarks about domestic workers’ rights in the GCC have been urged to submit comments and observations to International Labour Organization and a copy to the GCC states.
Kuwait’s Labour and Social Welfare Minister Hind Al Sabeeh, in the mean time, told reporters that the GCC countries had no plans to trim their expatriate workforce and reduce their reliance on them.
“In fact, we will be needing more foreign workers in the days to come because of the ongoing mega development projects and more such projects being planned,” Al Sabeeh said. She, however, added that the GCC states would need to balance their demographic structures by balancing the ratio of workers from different manpower exporting countries. The GCC states may fix nationality-wise quotas for workers to be recruited.
The Peninsula
