Pay hike on the cards for Filipino maids

THE plunge in the ringgit value has prompted fresh requests to raise the minimum pay for foreign maids.

Apart from Indonesian domestic workers, who are expected to have their base salary increased by RM100 to RM1,000, Filipino maids are likely to have their minimum pay raised from RM1,440 to RM1,700, Sin Chew Daily reported yesterday.

Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) vice-president Foo Yong Hooi disclosed that the universal minimum wage for Filipina domestic helpers is US$400 a month and the current pay of RM1,440 is based on the exchange rate of RM3.60 to the greenback some six months ago.

He told the daily that based on the current rate of more than RM4 to the dollar, the pay will have to be raised to RM1,700.

He said the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia, Jose Eduardo E. Malaya III, had said on Sept 28 during the launch of a Filipino online TV station in Kuala Lumpur, that employers should abide by the universal minimum wage of US$400 per month regardless of the exchange rate.

Agreements for Filipino maids specify that employers pay them in US dollars.

Foo said that during the association’s meeting with the Human Resources Ministry a week ago, the ministry’s officials had raised the Indonesian government’s request for the minimum pay of Indonesian maids be in- creased to the amount of RM1,000.

Deputy Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono earlier confirmed that the National Authority for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Migrants had written to the embassy asking for the base pay for Indonesian maids to be raised to RM1,000.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said senior officials from Indonesia and Malaysia had yet to make a decision on the minimum salary for Indonesian maids at the 11th joint working group meeting in Jakarta on Oct 15.

“The matter will be discussed at the 12th working group meeting to be held soon in Putrajaya,” he said.

At present, 230,000 of the 320,000 foreign maids in the country are from Indonesia.