13.6pc domestic helps get no wages: Survey

Bangladeshi domestic helps earn a very poor monthly wage on average, and 13.6 per cent of the residential domestic workers do not receive any wages at all, a survey report revealed on Sunday.

Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), in collaboration with the OXFAM in Bangladesh and Global Affairs Canada, surveyed 287 labourers in Dhaka between October 2020 and April 2021.

Among the participants, 60 per cent were non-residential employees, while the rest were residential or live-in workers.

The survey found that Bangladeshi domestic helps earn an average monthly wage of Tk 4,500. The majority of the workers are unaware of their rights and legal protections, the report said.

Among the residential helps, 38.6 per cent are below 18, read the report.

According to the research, the wage of 28.2 per cent of domestic workers declined during this Covid-19 pandemic.

Workers’ rights were grossly violated as 99 per cent of them had no written contract with their employers. The report also stated that 64 per cent of the workers had no day off or leave.

Labour rights campaigners demanded the government to acknowledge domestic work as an individual profession, allow their right to trade union and introduce a minimum wage for them.

There are no statistics on current domestic workers. However, trade union leaders estimated that nearly 2 million people were employed as domestic workers in the country, most of whom are women.

Trade union leader and BILS advisory council member Naimul Ahsan Jewel and acting coordinator of the Domestic Workers’ Rights Network Abul Hossain, among others, were present at event held at the National Press Club.