SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic worker called her helper friend crying after she could no longer bear the poor working conditions that her employer subjected her to.
In an anonymous post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid’s friend said that she got a call from the helper who was crying. Writing on behalf of her friend, the maid wanted to know if she should directly ask the Manpower Ministry (MOM) for help. The maid had asked her agent many times for a transfer but it was to no avail.
Her friend wrote that the maid was not able to handle the amount of work she was given, because “her employer home is 3 storey 7 rooms and 4 bathrooms everyday cleaning after cleaning employer check if its okay for her if not she will ask again my friend to do it again,my friend have no rest she eat dinner 11 pm sleep 1am-2am,she wake up 5am and she just eats noodles every time”. She wrote that it was her first time working as a maid in Singapore.
In addition to cleaning seven rooms and four toilets to her employer’s satisfaction, the maid only got three hours of sleep, was just given noodles for her meals and also had to take care of two children. “Our agent told her to wait for 30 days,but she got one month already last feb 8 but the agent told her again to wait for the previous helper to come because they said they hired again the previous helper, my friend cannot work properly, she lost so much weight also, she got so many burn on her hands from ironing”, the maid’s friend wrote.
On her days off, the maid would leave the house and return at 6pm but even then her employer scolded her asking why dinner was not made for her or her children. “the employer got mad at my friend and slam the door,that’s why she called me and crying..if the employer don’t allow her to transfer and send her back home still okay with her, I just pitied my friend because we are the same 1st timer but she is unlucky to her employer,what she will do?” the helper’s friend wrote.
Netizens were unanimous in their comments where they asked the maid to seek help immediately.
Here’s what they said:
Earlier this year, a foreign domestic worker took to social media asking if she could terminate her employment contract citing ill health as the reason. She added that she had been overworked and unable to rest even at night.
In a post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the helper wrote that she had been made to work from 6.45 am to 10.30 pm or 11 pm daily without a break in between. She added that the week before, her friend had to take her to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) because she was not feeling well, was nauseous and had vomited. When tests were done at the hospital, it was found that her Potassium levels were high and she had low blood sugar, which made her feel weak.
The maid wrote: “My question is..Is it possible i can terminate my contract bcoz of my condition? I cannot work properly also coz i feel weak and if i stay maybe i become worst since i cannot rest early at nyt,from 6:45 i woke up until 10:30 or 11 pm,straight working and non stop”. /TISG