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Ahead of its first year anniversary on 24 January 2017, the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE), has released its social report card today and shared key findings, achievements and its plans for 2017. Over the past year, CDE has been championing for the fair treatment of foreign domestic workers (FDWs), rendering aid to them and raising awareness with regards to FDW-related issues. And as CDE celebrated its first anniversary today, a key learning point that emerged is that a heathy employer-employee relationship can reduce the possibility of issues and conflicts between an employer and a FDW.
CDE Social Report Card – Key Findings
In 2016, CDE saw a total of 517 cases and help sheltered some 110 FDWs. Majority of the cases came via CDE’s 24-hour helpline. Among these cases, the three most common issues FDWs raised were salary disputes, request for transfer of employer and physical abuse. These three issues constituted nearly 50 per cent of the total number of cases CDE saw in 2016. In addition, FDWs from Indonesia (28.4%), Myanmar (18.5%), the Philippines (17.2%) and India (9.2%) formed the bulk of those whom CDE have assisted. Out of 517 cases, CDE managed to resolve 83 per cent of the cases while the remaining are still ongoing cases.
We are pleased that with the support of the relevant agencies and our social partners, the CDE team has managed to help these distressed employees promptly and resolve employment related disputes effectively. In certain cases, especially those with allegations of abuse, more time were required for investigations before coming to a conclusion. For such cases, CDE has been working closely with our stakeholders and partners to expedite these cases while lending psychological and sociological support to our FDWs during this difficult period. For example, CDE housed Ms Hazel, a FDW from the Philippines, while her case was undergoing investigations with the Police. Through a text message to one of CDE’s staff, Ms Hazel commented, “CDE is my home and family already for almost three months…. Thank you is not worth enough for all the things you did. Priceless I cannot pay in return… From the bottom of my heart thank you so much”. Ms Kyi Kyi, a FDW from Myanmar, also expressed her gratitude towards CDE in her native language through a video. She thanked CDE for supporting her from the start of the police investigations till the day she returned to Myanmar.
Through our interactions with FDWs and their employers, CDE realised that most conflicts can be prevented if there were healthy relationships between the FDWs and their employer. A healthy employer-employee relationship helps set the ground for mutual understanding and open communications. This would then help reduce the possibility of conflicts or issues emerging over the course of employment.
To promote healthy employer-employee relationships, CDE released the first of its Handy Guides series at the celebrations today. The Handy Guides series pays attention to bridging the cultural divide between the employer and FDW in a light-hearted manner. Available in four different bilingual versions - English-Bahasa Indonesia, English-Burmese, English-Tagalog and English-Tamil, the Handy Guides series would be made available at CDE’s Office or online via CDE’s website (www.cde.org.sg).
Mr Shamsul Kamar, CDE Executive Director said, “Having a healthy relationship is the cornerstone of any employment arrangements. Likewise in the case of the FDWs and their employers, a healthy relationship can help reduce the possibility of miscommunications and misunderstandings. With the Handy Guides series, CDE wants to reinforce and promote the need for a healthier relationship between both FDWs and their employers.”
CDE Social Report Card – Key Achievements
In line with CDE’s efforts to tackle potential conflicts upstream, CDE conducted regular engagement and outreach sessions during the year. Some notable events include CDE’s Thank You campaign in May, the launch of Mobile CDE in July, U Heart to Heart with Domestic Workers organised in conjunction with Young NTUC in August and the recent Hearts from the Hearts campaign in December.
Taking a multi-stakeholder approach, CDE also engaged many different organisations in the past year to help improve the FDW climate in Singapore. CDE is also thankful for the help rendered by the different stakeholders and partners throughout the past year. Some of these stakeholders and partners include associations representing employment agencies like the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and Singapore Accredited Employment Agencies Association; non-governmental organisations like Law Society, Silver Ribbon, AIDHA, Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Skills Training (FAST), Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) and Think Centre; tertiary institutes like Institute of Technical Education College Central, National Junior College and Nanyang Polytechnic; community groups like Pekerja Indonesia Singapura, PrimeTime Business and Professional Women's Association; embassies and other advocacy groups like the Labour Movement’s nEbO.
First Year Anniversary Celebration
In addition to the sharing of its social report card, CDE also took the opportunity to show appreciation to their volunteers. The group of 50 volunteers comprise fellow FDWs who sacrifice their Sundays to help outreach to fellow citizens. Mr Kamar presented the certificates of appreciation to these volunteers. The volunteers also took part in an amazing race that reinforced team building amongst them and the celebrations culminated in a ride on the Singapore Flyer.
Future Plans
Moving ahead, CDE will continue to champion for the fair treatment of FDWs and our local domestic employees. To further promote the need for a healthy employer-employee relationship, CDE will continue its regular outreach sessions to both FDWs and their employers to raise awareness and educate them about potential conflicts or issues. These are some of the key milestones for 2017:
a. Launch industry survey to understand the issues and concerns facing FDWs and their employers (Feb 2017)
b. CDE May Day Celebrations (May 2017)
c. Opening of CDE’s new shelter (Jun 2017)
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