Placement fee should be tied to maids' training Published on Mar 04, 2013

I READ the article ("Manila tightens maid hiring rules"; last Friday) with concern.

I do not mind paying the placement fee if the maid is really trained.

Placement training is meant to teach and prepare maids to do well here.

Despite this, I still had one maid who did not know how to use a washing machine.

After I showed how it is used, she stood for five minutes watching the whirling wash, her head spinning together with the machine.

Another maid used her toes to push dust into the dustbin when sweeping the floor, used her fingers to clean off the dirt under her toenails, and went to prepare food immediately after that.

The $2,000 placement fee is unjustified as most maids do not know basic hygiene, have cooking skills or housekeeping abilities.

The few maids I have hired who knew how to do their jobs did not know it because of any placement training they had undergone - they knew what to do because they had prior experience.

When my maid requested to return after six months back home, she was made to go back to the placement centre, not to be trained but to give training to other maids, as she had experience.

Unfairly, we had to bear the placement fee.

It is one thing to charge employers. But the Philippine government must ensure that maids are fully equipped with the skills to do their jobs when they are sent out.

Agnes Kwok Sook Yee (Ms)