Domestic workers need to be protected too
SUNDOWNER – It feels like they only care about their belongings.
At a recent information morning around how domestic workers can ensure the safety and security of homes they work at, concerns were raised about their safety.
On 15 September the Honeydew Community Police Forum (CPF) held an information morning meeting that supplied information to domestic workers around how to avoid crime while on duty.
Jon Rosenburg, Public Relations Officer of Honeydew CPF shared tips on numbers domestic workers should keep, alarms systems, how to deal with delivery and repair people, information on how rubbish bins are used for crime and how to restrict access to the house.
The meeting was attended by more than 30 domestic workers in the area. When the chance arose for interaction between Rosenburg and the domestic workers, concerns were raised from the domestic workers about their safety concerns.
Esther Masiye asked Rosenburg to advise homeowners and employers of domestic workers to upgrade the safety of workers. She said that as important as it is for them to ensure that no criminal incidents happen while they’re at the house during the day but was not satisfied with the lack of attention to their security and safety.
Masiye said, “Some of the domestic workers don’t have security gates where they sleep but every door and window of the house has burglar bars.” This sentiment was shared by a majority of the workers as they believed that their employers do not care for their domestic workers as much as their belongings.
Mayise went on to suggest that the CPF create a Whatsapp group chat for domestic workers to communicate with one another as homeowners do.
Other requests from the domestic workers was that the CPF organise a meeting including employers and employees were they can raise these issues such as unregistered domestic workers, meals that are provided while on duty and lack of urgency when domestic workers contact security companies and the police.
Rosenburg stated that this would be attended to and details of such a meeting would be made public when planned.
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