Prime
And the maids’ rights…
The Help is a movie that tells a story of three house helps who tell of how their employers treat them. This is an eye opener on what they are capable of doing when they are treated inhumanely by the employer. Certanly, that these house helps we tend to ignore a lot, are an important aspect to the running of our households especially to the career parents. They too are like any other employees; they have rights. So, as an employer, are you aware of your help’s right? What liberties are you giving her?
“I do not know of the rights of a house help but, I would put myself in a maid’s shoes. For instance, would I be glad if I were treated the way I treat her? Would I enjoy sleeping in the corridor or having the same meal over and again? I believe in treating them like human beings,” Edna Katende, 36, says.
Katende shares how she provides her help free medical treatment in case she falls ill, “the money she uses to plait her hair is not part of her salary or money for small items she may require because I believe, I am rewarding her so that in turn she does the same for my family.”
Like any other labourer, a house help is entitled to leave from work. “They need to rest, be loved, where possible object to bosses who are only interested in exploiting them,” Priscilla Kyomuhangi, a mother of two opines.
Views may vary but much as some employers know the rights of the helps, some defy them and mistreat them.
“Before sending out a maid to an employer, I first talk to them and inquire on what their expectations from the maid, but also a brief profile of themselves for instance the number of children one has and the temperaments of each child although we do not tell the maid who she is going to work for. We recommend a maid accordingly,” Marietta Ntulume, the managing director of Nanny’s Limited in Kansanga shares.
Ntulume says in cases where a maid chooses to leave the home of her employer, “we look at amicable signs of reconciliation between the maid and her employer. If the maid decides to leave, we respect the fact that the maid is in a sensitive place because some people do not come to terms with it and as such, when they return to us, I cordially advise and recommend they get a maid from a different place.”
As an agency, Ntulume, says they follow up on the behaviour of the maid while monitoring the relationship that develops after.
However, when they notice something wrong, they intervene in a bid to prevent any possible misunderstandings. “When a maid comes to us looking for a job, we train them for two weeks so that we determine who is worth employing and we get to interact with them so that we single out hardworking and lazy people. We recommend a maid after we’ve established that they are not desperate,” She explains.
It is someone’s needs that determine who they recommend for an individual in need of a maid. We charge Shs40, 000 to give one a maid.
Ntulume shares that she once saw two of the maids she had recommended leave their employers because one never gave her meals and the maid always had her lunch at 6pm while another employer was so strict that it forced the maid to leave.
“I do have a maid and she is entitled to some days off, freedom of worship, decent accommodation, and access to medical services and prompt payment. Although when delay arises, I talk to her so that she does not perceive it as an intentional occurrence,” says Leon Barigye, an IT technician at Centenary Bank.
Regardless of the age, the help deserves to be treated as a human being.
WHAT TO DO
Usher Wilson Owere, the Chairman General of National Organisation of Trade Unions explains that under their umbrella organisation of Uganda Theatrical and Domestic Allied Workers’ Union (UTDAWU) has a structure that is supposed to organise them as workers. Maids have got fora through which they can air out their problems but it’s not known to them.
“We work with local leaders such as local councils to be able them to reach out and defend maids whose rights are abused. However, housemaids are also shy in divulging information in case they need help. As UTDAWU, we are training more leaders to improve communication to ensure they provide improved service delivery to maids,” Owere says.
As a way of coming out with a definitive plan of rescuing domestic workers who are treated unfairly, UTDAWU is in the process of implementing and discussing with the media to run different programmes both on radio and televisions where maids will listen in and watch so that they know people they can talk to and their views are heard.
Through working with agencies such as International Labour Organisation and the government, Owere says they are mainstreaming and lobbying for housemaids to have minimum wages so as to salvage them from poverty. This because they are exploited.
For those below 18, Owere says it is child labour. UTDAWU with the help of local leaders, rescues and helps and devise means through which such maids can go back to school and continue with education because when one is working and they are below 18, it is considered as child labour.
- Compiled by Roland D. Nasasira
