A Domestic Worker Speaks Out

A domestic worker in London writes about her difficult situation.  Before coming to London, she had never worked as a domestic worker.  In her country, she had worked in a garment factory, but here, as a domestic worker, she makes a little bit more money to help her family back home.  She is glad to be an active member of J4DW, a group of domestic workers supported by Unite the Union.  Since finding out about the group, she feels better and more confident.  Before, she was ashamed to speak, but she says now it’s hard to stop her!  If you are a domestic worker in need of a support network, J4DW could be a valuable resource for you.  Click here to find out more about it. 

I am a domestic worker.  I have had bad experiences but what I discovered with one employer is very different.  They show no respect at all and I have a lot of friends having the same problems, even worse.  Some of them never go out, sleeping on the floor, eating expired food, with no day off, no holiday pay, long hours of work, with low salary.  They do not pay the minimum wage.  They do not pay tax and NI.   Even when they have a written contract they never follow it.
  
They don’t give sick pay, and along with all that, they are shouting, breaking their bodies with sticks, and throwing boiling water on them.  They treat them like rubbish.  They call them a cow (bagara).  They call them a dog (kalba).  They call them a donkey (hamara).  And they call them stupid (ghabiya).  And the domestic workers, they don’t understand what is the meaning of the words. 

Domestic workers are workers and they should be treated well, as they do hard work, looking after children, doing all the work in the house, cooking, ironing, and shopping.  Even if they’re not feeling well they have to work.  I think all that is not easy to do.  I really would love all employers to understand that domestic workers need respect in their work.  Like all the others, they are human beings. 

Some people have money.  Domestic workers do the work to help them, and to help and support their own family back home.  They are often abused in some countries but I want them to understand that when they are in the UK it is a free country.  They don’t have to be scared.  They can speak out.  They can fight for their rights, even for their time off work, for their day off, for their break time, for their salary. 

But I am very sorry for the new rule in the immigration legislation on the domestic worker visa.   It will make many domestic workers coming to the UK after April 6 to be abused as they are not allowed to change employer and they can’t have any help.  I am very sad.  It’s a return to slavery.