Children of a Lesser (Indian) God

Apparently the 39-year-old diplomat had claimed that she was paying her nanny $4,500 monthly when applying for the nanny's Visa, but in reality, once the nanny travelled to the US she only paid her one third of that. Given the fact that the minimum wage in the US is $9.75 while the domestic worker was only paid $3.31 per hour, the diplomat was also in breach of employment law.

When news of the arrest arrived in India, Indian authorities expressed their outrage. Their reaction, however, was not one of support for their co-national who had been abused by the diplomat, but rather an explosion of anger that the American government has arrested the diplomat. Apparently abuse of domestic workers is an acceptable offence in the eyes of the Indian Prime Minister and all the other Indian officials who waxed lyrical about the case in the press.

The case is one that undoubtedly shines a spotlight on the plight of domestic workers worldwide, and by worldwide I am also including Malta.

If you look around you it is obvious that the number of care workers and domestic assistants coming from countries like the Philippines is increasing in Malta. The economic reality of today is that it is cheaper to employ a Filipino carer for an elderly couple rather than to pay for them to be placed in a home, so as time goes by the number of such workers in our country is bound to increase. Similarly, it is cheaper to employ a nanny than to pay for full-time care facilities for two or more children, so once again the economies weigh in favour of employing such ladies to help in the home.

Nannies, carers and domestic workers live with the families who employ them and are therefore subject to the whims of their employer. I have had the opportunity to meet and talk to a number of these hardworking ladies and I was shocked at some of the stories that they had to tell, ranging from working for hours on end to not even having a day off once a week or only being given limited food to eat. Others talk about employers who shout at them or treat them disrespectfully, or who

interfere in their personal lives. There are also tales of vacations given once every two years, as opposed to every year as dictated by law. In other words, instead of getting 24 days vacation leave every year they are given 24 days every two years (essentially an average of 12 days annually). These are not stories I heard from workers in Saudi Arabia, but from workers in good old Catholic Malta.

These stories make me sad. Workers who travel from the Philippines or India or any other country to Malta do so at great personal sacrifice. They are far from their families, friends and everyone they know and love and they are transported to a country where the culture is totally alien to them. Obviously there might occasionally be a bad apple or two (as in the rest of mankind) but on the whole these workers are honest, hard-working and fully committed to improving the quality of life of those who are in their care. They deserve to be treated with respect and they deserve to be remunerated and have the same benefits as all other workers in Malta.

Anything less than that is a disgrace.

I appeal to the Maltese authorities to set up a helpline where foreign workers can get help if they feel that their rights are being trampled on. In Malta we have laws relating to minimum wage, working hours, sick leave and vacation leave - and these do not apply only to Maltese workers but to all those who are working in Malta. There needs to be more information available to foreign workers about their rights and assistance for non-confrontational ways to bring breaches to the attention of employers. After all, in many cases the families employing these workers have no experience as employers so it is totally possible that in some cases the issues arise because they are not aware of the law and the rights of workers.

We are all equal in the eyes of God and the law, so we should ensure that every single worker in Malta is treated fairly.
 
Claudine Cassar is the Executive Chairman of the Alert Group of Companies -
www.alertgroup.com.mt