New centres for hiring maids soon
AFTER OPENING OF TADBEER CENTRES, ALL DOMESTIC WORKERS’ SERVICES WILL BE FACILITATED UNDER ONE ROOF
After opening of Tadbeer centres, all services for domestic workers will be offered under one roof |
The opening of new Tadbeer centres for the recruitment of housemaids in the UAE will be announced during the first week of Ramadan, an official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation told Gulf News.
The official said the location of the centres in each emirate will be unveiled within 10 days. The centres will be built in partnership with the private sector. Currently, the Tasheel service centres and a number of typing centres provide services for the opening of files, applying and renewing visas, cancelling contracts and discontinuing services of domestic workers. The ministry official said such establishments will continue providing these services until Tadbeer centres are opened.
After the opening of Tadbeer centres, all domestic workers’ services will be facilitated under one roof, a senior official of the ministry said.
The ministry plans to open 24 centres across the country to help families recruit domestic workers at fixed rates and protect them from exploitation. In the first phase, the ministry will open nine centres and then 15 in the second phase, across the country.
Under the new system of the ministry, a family will be able to recruit a housemaid at a cost of Dh8,000 to Dh15,000, depending on the nationality of the domestic help and their experience. This will include all residency and health expenses, according to a senior official.
Four packages
The centres will provide services to families and employers through four defined packages, which will be offered at set prices. A ministry official said: “These packages will provide families and businesses to select domestic workers under the packages and prices which suit them.”
The first package will allow the recruitment of domestic workers from outside the country through the centre as per the recruitment procedures. The second package will provide the option of temporary service of domestic workers. The third package doesn’t allow the transfer of domestic workers; while the fourth package provides flexible work options, as per the requirement of the employer, to the helpers who are registered with the centre.
Under the new system, the domestic help will remain under the sponsorship of the centre for six months, they will be transferred to the sponsorship of the employer who wishes to recruit them. Domestic workers will be given a weekly off and will be not allowed to sleep outside the home.
Burden on sponsors
Residents have praised the safeguards for the workers, such as wage guarantees and limits to the workload, while also voicing concerns regarding the higher costs for hiring and the weekly off day for workers.
Speaking to Gulf News, Khaled Al Hammadi, a local government employee, said: “I believe the new domestic workers’ hiring system will financially overburden sponsors, like the increased hiring amount.”
Under the ministry’s proposal, there is an increase in the monthly wages of housemaids and reduced working hours for them, Al Hammadi said.
According to ministry’s plans, the family will have to pay a monthly salary of Dh1,000 to Dh1,500, depending on housemaids’ nationality and experience.
Al Hammadi also pointed out that the compulsory weekly off could yield “negative results” when the maid will go out of the house and may meet “bad people”.
Adil Abdul Wahid, a 47-yearold Emirati, also voiced concerns regarding increased wages and reduced number of daily working hours. However, he agreed that the one-day weekly off for maids is “good, under the condition that they don’t violate our local culture and traditions. On a day off, they will be able to meet their relatives and friends but should be cautious that they don’t meet with ‘bad people’ and establish illegal relationships”.