By Erwin Nicavera/Philippine News Agency
BACOLOD CITY — The General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA) has urged the newly-elected officials in this city to implement the provisions of Republic Act 10361 or the Domestic Workers Act.
GAWA secretary-general Wennie Sancho said on Monday that in Bacolod, the creation of kasambahay desks has yet to materialize since the law was passed in June 2013.
The City Council’s committee on labor has failed to do its mandate, considering that there is no kasambahay desk in any of the barangays, he added.
Sancho is also the labor sector representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 6 (Western Visayas), which recently approved a salary increase of PHP500 per month for the region’s domestic workers.
All domestic workers in Western Visayas are now entitled to receive a monthly wage of at least PHP4,000.
In July 2013, the Department of the Interior and Local Government directed the barangays to set up kasambahay desks and the barangay chairpersons to devise a system to ensure the registration of all kasambahay in their barangays, including an online registration through their official website or e-mail.
The Domestic Workers Act or Kasambahay Act requires every employer to register all domestic workers under their employment in the Registry of Domestic Workers in the barangay, also called the Barangay Registration of Kasambahays.
Batas Kasambahay defines a domestic worker or kasambahay as any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship such as, but not limited to, general househelp, nursemaid or “yaya”, cook, gardener, or laundry person, but shall exclude any person who performs domestic work only occasionally or sporadically and not on an occupational basis.
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