Survey finds au pairs exploited

Mont · 17-12-2012 05:15PM #1

Taken from Irish Times website

Over a third of au pairs who come to Ireland may experience exploitation by families here, a new survey suggests.
The research by the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) indicates a high level of abuse of au pairs. Predominantly young women, the au pairs reported working excessively long hours, heavy workloads, being given too much responsibility while receiving low payment.
Surveying 53 au pairs over a five-month period to March this year, the 'Part of the Family?' report found that in some cases, au pairs are being used as a cheap form of childcare, the centre says.
Defining au pair standards the European Committee on Au Pairs limits working hours to 30 a week, including babysitting. It says the role of an au pair is, "to help with light household duties, integrate as a member of the family and share his or her culture with the family and vice versa".
The MRCI research however found three quarters of au pairs in Irish families were working in excess of the 30-hour maximum with 26 per cent working a 40-60 hour week. Some 13 per cent reported not being free to leave the house when duties were done.
Being on-call all the time, babysitting every night without pay, working weekends and an on 'off-time' including Sundays and holidays were common complaints.
With duties extending to doing family laundry, housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, gardening and car washing, respondents used terms such as 'slaves' and 'servants' to describe their treatment. The average weekly 'pocket money' for their work was €110.
Of those surveyed, 58 per cent were EU citizens with the remainder from countries including Brazil, Mauritius and Mexico.
Some 29 per cent of au pairs who come to Ireland said they felt they had not learned about Irish culture and 26 per cent reported being excluded form family activities, such as birthdays.
MRCI community worker Aoife Smith said that au pairs were not protected by employment legislation.
"The au pair is not a worker. It is intended to be a cultural exchange programme," she said. "However, our research shows they are being used as a cheap form of labour to provide childcare."
Calling for the introduction of statutory guidelines for the au pair industry, she said: "If a host family is found to be abusing au pairs, they should be banned from accessing further au pairs."
The Irish National Au Pairs Association's Julie Kelly said poor online recruitment methods "allowed families to ignore the cultural aspects of the programme".
She said au pairs were now being perceived as "an alternative to hiring qualified childcare professionals".

Frankly i think we all know about this sort of slave labour. It is exploitation pure and simple and in many cases the family even hold onto the passport of the au pair so they have no where to go. Sickening

franktheplank · 17-12-2012 05:22PM

Who has an au pair?

Upper middle class.

These people more often than not lack morals and decency! Shocking :eek:.

branie · 17-12-2012 05:24PM

I've heard of Au pairs who aren't allowed to attend language classes.

AnonoBoy · 17-12-2012 05:24PM

I've exploited a few au pairs in my day alright.

Heh... heh.... heh....... :pac:

shedweller · 17-12-2012 05:25PM

Mmmmm.....au pairs.....

Duckworth_Luas · 17-12-2012 05:25PM

Moan, moan, moan! I wish they'd just grow au pair!

Duggy747 · 17-12-2012 05:26PM

I kept reading it as "aul pair"

thebigbiffo · 17-12-2012 05:27PM

I've had 3 au pairs, and 2 of them exploited my family!

Load of crap. They feel exploited as a rule.

Drakares · 17-12-2012 05:28PM

It is actually horrifying what some of the girls have to do for nothing.

My OH worked here as an au-pair the year before last for a posh family in Foxrock.

The mother didn't have a job, she was just a lazy bitch.

They told her she had to work 30 hours a week in exchange for bed and board. They never picked her up from the airport or from the bus stop.
The "30" hours consisted of 7-10, 3-5 and 7-9 on saturdays and sundays so she couldn't EVER make plans on the weekend. They then gave her whatever hours they pleased a week in advance.

She asked if she could have her birthday off (was a Saturday) and they said wouldn't give it to her.

Her flights were cancelled during the big snow so she missed xmas with her family. She asked if she could go the following week and they said no.

Always made a huge deal of it if she wanted a sandwich outside the 3 meals a day, soon stopped putting anything nice in the fridge.

Pure and utter cunts.

And there were much worse off of her friends that came over.

Glorified slavery.

melekalikimaka · 17-12-2012 05:30PM

check out diceys on a tuesday, thats where they go to drown their sorrows. I'm there with a comforting shoulder most weeks

HalloweenJack · 17-12-2012 05:35PM

Not surprised. My ex was an au pair and she got a fairly raw deal.

She worked way more hours than she had agreed to and had to do so much more than just looking after the kids. She'd work about 15 hours a day, five days a week (always a Saturday or a Sunday and a lot of overnight babysitting when the parents would go down the pub during the week or something), looking after the kids, making meals for the whole family, doing the washing, cleaning the house, etc.. Think she got about €150 a week and a room, though she had to do her own food shopping.

And the worst thing? Both parents were working part-time (obviously in lucrative jobs) but were just too lazy to look after their own kids.

dj jarvis · 17-12-2012 05:36PM

franktheplank wrote: »

Who has an au pair?

Upper middle class.

These people more often than not lack morals and decency! Shocking :eek:.

incorrect - im working class and we have had au pairs for the last 5 years,
they only work the 30 hours , we treat them as we would family members,
they come and go as the please , some have gotten Irish boy friends , one even ended up staying here.

my children accept them as members of our family - also we have never had any issue with having them living in our small house.

we try get Finnish au pairs as that is the language spoken in my house , but we have had Polish and German
i would have no problem with a male au pair , but 99.99% tend to be women

its down to the people who take them on , some bastards in all walks of life , but any bad reviews i have heard coming from the au pairs do tend to be in well to do family's , who really take the piss

you have no right to hold their passport , or stop them from coming or going anywhere , and this is down to poor management from the agents not letting them know their rights

If they are being mistreated they should contact the agency straight away and get moved to another home - they don't have to put up with it
and the same goes for the host family's - they don't have to put up with crap from the au pair

as a experience i would recommend it - you just have to be a people person

cantdecide · 17-12-2012 05:39PM

franktheplank wrote: »

Who has an au pair? Upper middle class

I used to work for a company whose market was often upper middle class and if I had a quid for every time people would refuse to pay or engage in an unreasonable dispute over some trivial matter it would shock you. A chip on their shoulder at every hands turn has been my experience. To generalise for a second, these are often people who have no sense of what it's like to be without the basic resources you need to keep body and soul together and don't hesitate to refuse payment.

pickarooney · 17-12-2012 05:41PM

report found that in some cases, au pairs are being used as a cheap form of childcare,

I always thought that's what an au pair was, by definition.

Latchy · 17-12-2012 05:44PM

Drakares wrote: »

It is actually horrifying what some of the girls have to do for nothing.

My OH worked here as an au-pair the year before last for a posh family in Foxrock.

The mother didn't have a job, she was just a lazy bitch.

They told her she had to work 30 hours a week in exchange for bed and board. They never picked her up from the airport or from the bus stop.
The "30" hours consisted of 7-10, 3-5 and 7-9 on saturdays and sundays so she couldn't EVER make plans on the weekend. They then gave her whatever hours they pleased a week in advance.

She asked if she could have her birthday off (was a Saturday) and they said wouldn't give it to her.

Her flights were cancelled during the big snow so she missed xmas with her family. She asked if she could go the following week and they said no.

Always made a huge deal of it if she wanted a sandwich outside the 3 meals a day, soon stopped putting anything nice in the fridge.

Pure and utter cunts.

And there were much worse off of her friends that came over.

Glorified slavery.

Back in the 50s ,60s 70s in church run Ireland , long before foreign Au pairs came to Ireland it was young Irish girls , many from the country who were exploited and treated like slaves so it's just an extension of that to .

sfwcork · 17-12-2012 05:51PM

I know a german au pair who is mad to be exploited.I mean literally she cannot be fed enough mickey

Lollipops23 · 17-12-2012 05:53PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I always thought that's what an au pair was, by definition.

So did I...?

My step mam did it in Paris for a few years- she loved the kids, but hated the parents.

dj jarvis · 17-12-2012 06:04PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I always thought that's what an au pair was, by definition.

to a certain extent they are , but they are not there to run your house for you
and you have to interact with them socially if you can

some i find just want to be left alone , and that's cool , but some want to take it all in ,

TBH neither me or my wife could work with out a au pair , both work full time but are the new " working poor " so cant afford creche places ( not that we would , we want our children cared for at home )
so we get in house help - in return we provide a happy , safe warm home , with a full fridge and hopefully some language instruction when needed
the paramount skill needed from the au pair is to be kind and understanding to the children - what they put in they will get in return 10 fold from the kids

if god forbid i saw evidence of them being cruel or nasty to the kids i would have them onto a plane in hours - and same goes for me with them

people who take the piss with, lets face it young girls who prob have never left their family homes, should be ashamed and banned from getting one in the future

lets face it , my daughter could be one in the future , so why would i mistreat our one

thebigbiffo · 17-12-2012 06:13PM

Another report from a group with a vested interest in making it seem like some minority are being mistreated. The old quango cash flow wont keep flowing without someone being proved to be miserable.

Can I just point out that there's a huge amount of people in this country who would love to work 40 hours a week and have 100-150 squids left after their bed and board are paid for. I'm sure there are a couple of genuine horror stories, but some spoilt kids whinging about their lot in life wont convince me we have an au pair exploitation problem in this country.

dj jarvis · 17-12-2012 06:19PM

thebigbiffo wrote: »

Another report from a group with a vested interest in making it seem like some minority are being mistreated. The old quango cash flow wont keep flowing without someone being proved to be miserable.

Can I just point out that there's a huge amount of people in this country who would love to work 40 hours a week and have 100-150 squids left after their bed and board are paid for. I'm sure there are a couple of genuine horror stories, but some spoilt kids whinging about their lot in life wont convince me we have an au pair exploitation problem in this country.

first point you made , prob a bit unfair - they do need someone to watch out for them , they are easily exploited - some stories are truly shocking

but for point 2 , you are correct , our au pair does not need to put her hand into her pocket for nothing , everything is looked after for her , so the 150 is pocket money , wont retire on a fortune , but enough for a 19 year old with no out goings

thebigbiffo · 17-12-2012 06:26PM

dj jarvis wrote: »

first point you made , prob a bit unfair - they do need someone to watch out for them , they are easily exploited - some stories are truly shocking

but for point 2 , you are correct , our au pair does not need to put her hand into her pocket for nothing , everything is looked after for her , so the 150 is pocket money , wont retire on a fortune , but enough for a 19 year old with no out goings

I'm really speaking from experience on the first point. Out of 3 au pairs, 2 were the laziest, most incompetent, self-centered girls I've ever met. If they were involved in a survey like this they would certainly class themselves as exploited even though they were no where near the definition.

I hate studies like this. They're self serving. A few pampered little continental girlies feel like they were asked to do too much? Awwww shucks, pass the tissues.

CatFromHue · 17-12-2012 06:27PM

Over a third could be as low as 34% so that means 66% of Au Pairs don't feel exploited, so they're happy out.

Honestly I'm not sure what the point of this research was but I'd like to see it compared to how Irish girls who go abroad to Au Pair feel if they're exploited.

JupiterKid · 17-12-2012 06:42PM

My sister worked as au pair in France back in the late 1980s and while one family she worked for were lovely and decent, another treated her as a lackey to do pretty much all of the housework on top of looking after their kids for a pittance.

My Ex's niece also au paired in Spain and was very badly treated. Virtually kept a prisoner in a huge mansion deep in the country and begged to come home early.

It really does depend on the family but there's no doubt in my mind that many families do exploit au pairs - most I suspect out of laziness and selfishness but some out of pure callousness and cruelty.

dj jarvis · 17-12-2012 06:42PM

thebigbiffo wrote: »

I'm really speaking from experience on the first point. Out of 3 au pairs, 2 were the laziest, most incompetent, self-centered girls I've ever met. If they were involved in a survey like this they would certainly class themselves as exploited even though they were no where near the definition.

I hate studies like this. They're self serving. A few pampered little continental girlies feel like they were asked to do too much? Awwww shucks, pass the tissues.

either you were fierce unlucky or i have been very lucky
cant say i have that opinion about them that way at all
but i do know where you are coming from ,i have also heard some rough stories from the host family's

i know of one couple living in Italy , Finnish and Italian family who got a German au pair , and from the first day she arrive has been sick , has a myriad of ailments that prevent her from getting up off her hole , and to make it worse due to either German or Italian laws she is just about fore filling her obligations so they cant shift her :eek:
so they are stuck with this useless girl who does nothing and lives in their house - if it was me i would walk around in the buff 24/7 , she would soon get better and feck off

i suppose its the luck of the draw - one bit of advice i can give is be VERY careful when getting German au pairs - they stick to the contracts ( when its to their benefit ) , they are not very flexible ( fnar fnar ) and as you know you need to be flexible when it comes to running a family and house

not a slur on Germans - just its how they are - very precise

thebigbiffo · 17-12-2012 06:55PM

dj jarvis wrote: »

either you were fierce unlucky or i have been very lucky
cant say i have that opinion about them that way at all
but i do know where you are coming from ,i have also heard some rough stories from the host family's

i know of one couple living in Italy , Finnish and Italian family who got a German au pair , and from the first day she arrive has been sick , has a myriad of ailments that prevent her from getting up off her hole , and to make it worse due to either German or Italian laws she is just about fore filling her obligations so they cant shift her :eek:
so they are stuck with this useless girl who does nothing and lives in their house - if it was me i would walk around in the buff 24/7 , she would soon get better and feck off

i suppose its the luck of the draw - one bit of advice i can give is be VERY careful when getting German au pairs - they stick to the contracts ( when its to their benefit ) , they are not very flexible ( fnar fnar ) and as you know you need to be flexible when it comes to running a family and house

not a slur on Germans - just its how they are - very precise

First girl we had was German (west). Absolutely brilliant. Still in touch and she comes to visit. We loved having her there (even if we didnt fully appreciate her at the time). Second was Spanish and a carbon copy of your friends experience. Always sick, complained about everything, ignored the children. Disaster. third was German (east). Would not lift a finger to help, wouldn't clean, cook, anything. Was only interested going out partying and complaining about boys.

We didn't go for a fourth.

suomi · 17-12-2012 06:55PM

I was an au pair in Ireland a few times and the first family I was with wasn't great. I had to wake up at 6.45 to clean up dog poo in the kitchen (the dog wasn't house trained so there was poo everywhere) before the rest of the family woke up. Then I worked for 12 hours, cooked, cleaned, vacuumed, did laundry, picked up the kids from school, put up with their tantrums (they were the most horrible, mean, spoiled brats I've ever had to deal with). All that for 100 euros a week. Actually, less than that, since I had to buy sweets for the kids on Fridays. From my own pocket money. I'd finish at seven, we'd have dinner, then I'd watch TV with the family for a couple of hours before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day. That family had forgotten to mention before I got there that they had gone through ten au pairs in the past three months. I lasted three weeks.

I know it depends on the family and some people have had wonderful experiences but there's no way I would ever be an au pair again. Nope.

dj jarvis · 17-12-2012 07:11PM

suomi wrote: »

I was an au pair in Ireland a few times and the first family I was with wasn't great. I had to wake up at 6.45 to clean up dog poo in the kitchen (the dog wasn't house trained so there was poo everywhere) before the rest of the family woke up. Then I worked for 12 hours, cooked, cleaned, vacuumed, did laundry, picked up the kids from school, put up with their tantrums (they were the most horrible, mean, spoiled brats I've ever had to deal with). All that for 100 euros a week. Actually, less than that, since I had to buy sweets for the kids on Fridays. From my own pocket money. I'd finish at seven, we'd have dinner, then I'd watch TV with the family for a couple of hours before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day. That family had forgotten to mention before I got there that they had gone through ten au pairs in the past three months. I lasted three weeks.

I know it depends on the family and some people have had wonderful experiences but there's no way I would ever be an au pair again. Nope.

sorry to hear that - hope it did not tarnish your view of the Irish
i would be so nervous of letting my daughter do it , but could also be a great thing for her

suomi · 17-12-2012 07:19PM

dj jarvis wrote: »

sorry to hear that - hope it did not tarnish your view of the Irish
i would be so nervous of letting my daughter do it , but could also be a great thing for her

It didn't, I went back a year later and did it again.

I think it's the kind of thing you have to try to see if you'll like it, it wasn't for me but there are lots of people who had great experiences. If I had to do it again, I'd find a family through an agency rather than an au pair website. It's much more reliable and the agency will help you if you have any problems with the family.

steddyeddy · 17-12-2012 07:20PM

No surprise either. One of my mates girlfriends is one and she is treated like crap by the port out starboard home people she works for. Over worked under paid and made to feel she's been done a favour by them by taking her on.

suicide_circus · 17-12-2012 07:22PM

Are these things not run by agencies? Can the girls not report abuse?

Pherekydes · 17-12-2012 07:22PM

In another Very Important Survey, rain was found to be wet.

Survey finds au pairs exploited

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