Veteran labour leader Halimah Yacob recently called for the legislation of weekly days off for maids working in Singapore. This has sparked off an intense debate amongst Singaporeans. In your opinion, should the giving of weekly days off be legislated in Singapore?
No, the giving of weekly day leave should not be legislated in Singapore. In today’s society, working adults face tighter schedules and less free time because of the high cost of living in Singapore. As a result, many Singaporeans who can afford it hire maids to take care of the house and their children when they are at work. Therefore, these maids are extremely important in the family to ensure that the household is properly taken care of.
Also, the giving of weekly day leave should not be enforced by the law. Instead, this practice should be negotiated between the employers and maids so that they can come to a uniformed decision without disputes and discontent.
Most importantly, some maids do not feel compelled at all to take leave and would rather stay at home to work for that day’s wages because they do not have friends or any interested places to go to. If so, it would be inconsiderate to enforce weekly day leaves on them.
It remains our responsibility to take care of our maids wherever they are, and we should always take their feelings into consideration when introducing new policies involving their lifestyles. To achieve a win-win situation, the best action would be to let the employers and maids come to a consensus on whether a weekly day leave would be beneficial to both parties, and not enforce it upon them.
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