WHO moulded people like these?
=====================================
BIG HOUSE, BUT...
ER, NO CASH TO PAY
MAID
Maid: Little sleep, little food, little pay
Boss: Unreasonable, abusive, calculative
By Cara Van Mirah
April 16, 2007
THEY live in a five-bedroom terrace house in Seletar Hills, drive
an expensive car and appear to lead a comfortable lifestyle.
Yet, when they needed to cut down on household expenditure, they
looked not to themselves, but to their domestic helper.
They told the maid that they would take away $50 from her monthly
pay, which was originally $300.
They even told her that the reason for the pay cut was because they
did not have enough money to spend.
The 22-year-old Sri Lankan maid, who has a two-year-contract, said:
'My pay was cut after eight months. My employer told me that they
can't afford to pay me.
'She didn't say if I will get the money back when my contract ends
next June.'
$150 DEDUCTED ALREADY
The maid, who asked not to be named, said her employer has deducted
$150 over the past three months.
According to maid agencies and industry observers, there are quite
a number of maids who, like her, are subjected to employers who are
rich in cash and assets, but poor at heart.
Ms Bridget Lew, president of Humanitarian Organisation for
Migration Economics (Home), said that some of these employers are
high-flying professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.
She told The New Paper on Sunday: 'There is no guarantee that if an
employer is rich, he will pay the salary on time, provide enough
food or look after a maid's welfare.
'The truth is, they are just as capable of mistreating their
domestic workers as those who are poorer. In any class of society,
bad behaviour sometimes prevails.'
In her four years of running Home, a shelter for abused maids, Ms
Lew has come across several such cases.
She recalled that there was an Indonesian maid who was ill-treated
by her employers, who were doctors. Although they lived in a nice
house, they made the maid sleep in a poorly- ventilated storeroom
that was cluttered with boxes.
'The maid was also verbally-abused. After a few months, she asked
for a transfer,' Ms Lew said.
Agencies observed that despite being well-off, some employers can
be stingy and selfish.
Mr Angland Seah, who owns AJS Manpower Consultants, said: 'They
stint on food, even restricting the food portions for the maid.
They're reluctant to buy rice or meat for their maid.'
Filipino maid Fern Sumillo, 27, said that she knows of one maid who
is left starving daily because her employer is stingy with
food.
Ms Sumillo gave the example of an employer who lives in a
five-bedroom house along Yio Chu Kang Road.
She said: 'Every day, the Indonesian maid would ask some of us for
food because she can't eat until her employer has eaten at
night.'
And one employer, a doctor, even gave strict instructions to the
maid not to cook more than one cup of rice for each meal. The rice
was to be shared by four adults, including the maid.
A spokesman for Success Manpower Employment Agency said other
employers have withheld maids' salaries - and feigned ignorance
whenasked.
One of the agency's Myanmar maids worked on a landed property for
four months without pay. She kept mum because she didn't know how
to broach the topic.
When approached by the agency, the employer gave a nonchalant
reply, and said, 'She (the maid) didn't tell me, so we didn't
know'.
Some well-heeled employers are known to stretch every dollar.
Mr Seah of AJS Manpower Consultants recalled: 'I had one maid who
would shuttle between two houses because the employer felt she had
nothing to do in the afternoon.
'They justified the pay by giving her extra work elsewhere. I told
them it was illegal.'
And instead of hiring two maids, some rely on one to clean a big
house, cook and do laundry for a family of five, on top of washing
four to five cars - all without any incentive and sufficient rest,
agencies groused.
A Filipino maid from JRS Business Express, who worked at a
two-storey house in Geylang, was overloaded with work daily.
After completing her chores at the house, the former nurse had to
look after an elderly family member of the household at a hospital.
She would return home from the hospital in the morning to catch a
few hours of sleep and then buy lunch with her own money.
Two months later, she fainted at the hospital, her agent
said.
The rich also have peculiar habits, imposing unreasonable house
rules.
One Filipino maid from JRS Business Express agency was expected to
use five different coloured cloths to clean different pieces of
furniture in the house.
It proved to be a confusing task for the newly-hired helper. As a
result, she incurred the wrath of her boss, a tai-tai in her 40s.
The woman also wanted the maid to iron the bath towels after family
members showered.
The maid quit one month later.
Expatriates, who are the preferred choice of employers as they are
known for their generosity, can be slave-drivers too, MsLew
said.
She was referring to one incident where a Filipino maid was asked
to help out with a home-catering business, which means she had to
work from early in the morning till 3am.
After a year, she ran away and was later referred to Home by the
Philippine Embassy.
Ms Lew noted that despite their wealth and education, these
well-off employers exhibit 'third world behaviour'.
Although help is available for those who feel they are
short-changed by their employers, not many would dare to confront
or report them. (See report on right).
As the Sri Lankan maid put it: 'If I say anything, my employer may
get angry. I may lose my job.
'If I complain and continue working, she may make my life
difficult.'
When asked if she would contact her agent or the Ministry of
Manpower (MOM) about the pay cut, she said with apprehension: 'I
don't know if it's a good idea. It's either lose $50, or make my
boss angry and lose the whole $250 and my job.'