Giving housemaids weekend off, time to rest, recharge

16 Feb 2009

Prodita Sabarini ,  THE JAKARTA POST

Among their colleagues, domestic workers Maria Goreti Emohsarnah, 36 and Sayuti, 19 are considered lucky.

Maria has worked as a domestic worker in Jakarta for 12 years, while Sayuti works for a family in Yogyakarta. They are among the rare few domestic workers in Indonesia who receive annual leave and days off on a weekly basis and on national holidays. 

They were at the Hotel Indonesia Traffic circle Sunday, along with hundreds of domestic workers, rallying for the rights of their colleagues to rest after a hard week's work. 

"People think we're just lucky. I want to change that. I want to make other domestic workers know that it's their right to have a holiday, to be able to enjoy time off and do other stuff," Sayuti said.

Off I go: A housemaid kisses the hand of her employer to say goodbye at Kampung Rambutan Terminal in East Jakarta, before departing for her hometown for the Idul Fitri holidays, in this photo file. (JP/J.Adiguna)

After receiving guidance from the National Network of Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT) Sayuti requested weekly holidays from her employer before starting work. She signed a contract with her employer which details her salary and working hours.

She has been working for her employers for two years now.  

Employers, meanwhile, have mixed feelings about the idea of giving domestic workers weekly holidays.

Fahmi Ismail, who shares a house with six friends, said that he does not give his maid weekends off.

"However, if she request a holiday we will give it," he said. 

Last year, he gave 10 days leave to his maid.  

He said that for maids who live with the family, weekly holidays should be given to them. "But for someone who's only working part time, I don't think it's necessary," he said.

Working mother Dahlia Fatmawati, however, thinks differently. She allocated Saturday and Sunday as holidays for her maid, so that she could rest. 

"I have two little kids and I know that sometimes taking care of children can be a very tiring and stressful job," she said. 

She gave her maid weekly holidays after noticing the quality of her work deteriorate after six months without a day of. 

"She became inattentive with the kids. I thought that firing her because of her performance would not resolve any problems, so I decided to let her rest on the weekends," she said.

 

She gives time off for her maid on Saturdays and Sundays so that the maid can recharge her energy and be in a better mood at the start of each week. 

"The result has been very good. She handles the kids better because she has enough time to rest," she said. 

Sayuti said that giving holidays would make domestic workers like their job more and be more professional.

"People, even domestic workers, have negative perception of the job. It's actually a nice job, for someone who likes domestic work. It's nice as long as we get fixed working hours and holidays.

As long as we get our rights," Sayuti said. 

Sayuti uses her free time to acquire skills through courses. Working part time, Sayuti has finished a sewing course. Now she's taking English lessons.

"People say that we should be intelligent so we don't get fooled. I want to study more so one day I can get another job with better pay," she said.