Claiming Rights – Domestic Workers’ Movements

By ITUC, Human Rights Watch, International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) on October 01, 2013

On September 5, 2013, the ILO Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Domestic Workers Convention or C189) entered into force. This groundbreaking new treaty and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 201) establish the first global standards for the working conditions of more than 50 million domestic workers worldwide—the majority of whom are women and girls, and many of whom are migrants—who clean, cook, and care for children and elderly in private households.

Despite the importance of domestic work to individual households and to national economies, domestic workers have been routinely excluded from standard labor protections and are often subject to exploitative work conditions and abuse. Under the new convention, domestic workers are entitled to the same basic rights as those available to other workers, such as the right to organize, weekly days off, overtime pay, minimum wage coverage, social security, and clear information on the terms and conditions of employment. Governments that ratify the convention must protect domestic workers from violence, regulate private employment agencies that recruit or employ domestic workers, and prevent child labor in domestic work.

A co-production of the International Domestic Workers’ Network (IDWN), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Human Rights Watch (HRW), Claiming Rights tracks key advances between 2011 and 2013 for the protection of domestic workers around the world. The report highlights countries that have ratified the Domestic Workers Convention, examples of national labor
law reform, and the growing strength and reach of the domestic workers’ rights movement.

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