Decent Work For Domestic Workers Research Articles

Fostering Sustainable Development Through Decent Work For Paid Domestic Workers Under SDG-8

This paper analyses the intricate connection between decent work, sustainable development and paid domestic workers within the framework of SDG-8. This study attempts to explain the economic implications of fostering decent work for domestic workers and its role in advancing the objectives of SDG -8.This paper is based on the existing literature and scholarly works relevant to the intersection of decent work, sustainable development and domestic work within the context of SDG-8.This is an attempt to analyse how their participation contributes to and benefit from SDG-8, examining the specific targets related to decent work and economic growth. The study further extends to address the importance of achieving work-life balance for domestic workers, recognizing the necessity for policies for their well-being. Collaborative efforts, involving, government, employers and NGOs are spotlighted as catalysts for fostering sustainable development in domestic work. The present study acknowledges challenges faced by domestic workers and proposes sustainable solutions for achieving a balanced, dignified, sustainable trajectory for domestic workers within the ambit of sustainable development goal -8. For domestic workers SDG-8 involves ensuring fair wages, reasonable working hours, safe working conditions and access to social protections.SDG 8 encourages formalisation of informal sector, which is crucial for domestic workers to gain legal recognition, protection and access to benefits.

Paradoks Pekerja Rumah Tangga di Indonesia: Belum Tergolong Pekerja Yang Melakukan Pekerjaan Layak?

This article is an analysis of the paradoxical situation experienced by domestic workers in Indonesia. On the one hand, they exist as workers, but on the other hand, their existence as workers has not been recognized and their rights as workers have not been fully fulfilled and they do not receive social protection guarantees from the government. This position makes them vulnerable to exploitation, violence and oppression. Therefore, by using qualitative research methods, especially literature studies based on literature and previous research results, the author shows the social exclusion of domestic workers in Indonesia. Based on the facts above, the author emphasizes the importance of applying the concept of decent work for domestic workers and promoting domestic work as a decent work for domestic workers. One conclusion that can be drawn from discussing this topic is that domestic workers also count as workers and that domestic work is also decent work that should be widely accepted. With this recognition, the existence of a legal umbrella and guaranteed social protection for domestic workers is a must. Thus, recognizing the existence of domestic workers and their work is an intention to build an inclusive social order, in which there is recognition and respect for a person's dignity.

Household members: problems of legal status

The article carries out a comprehensive study of the legal status of household members as a subject in labor relations regarding the use of domestic work in accordance with the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, the state of its implementation in Ukraine, proposals for improving national legislation in order to effectively implement the rights of domestic workers .
 The topicality of the topic is due to the fact that Ukraine has come close to completing the ratification process of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Currently, a corresponding draft law has been developed, which aims to supplement the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine with provisions aimed at regulating the relations of domestic workers under an employment contract with an individual. Therefore, domestic workers will be included in the scope of labor law, and members of the household will acquire the powers of the employer within the scope of the employment contract. At the same time, one of the members of the household will become a party to the employment contract - the employer.
 An attempt was made to define the concepts and characteristics of household members based on the analysis of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, the current legislation of Ukraine and the results of the legislative work. In particular, in Ukraine it is proposed to use domestic work on the basis of an employment contract only for individuals who are primarily united by such important features as living together in the same residential premises (residential building) or part of it, running a joint household, fully or partially combining their funds and their expenses. It has been proven the need to refer to household members as well as persons who, although they do not fall under the characteristics of household members, but are family members within the meaning of Art. 3 of the Family Code of Ukraine.
 It is argued that the Convention uses the term "household" to refer to the employer, which in translation from English means both a group of people who live together and applies to a house, an apartment and the people who live there. It is reasonable to believe that the Convention does not prohibit the use of domestic work by legal entities, but allows the establishment of restrictions by national legislation.

Is There a Dualistic Protection System for Migrant Domestic Workers? The "Easy" and "Speedy" Ratification of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in Italy

Domestic workers provide a variety of services and contribute significantly to the global economy. However, domestic work has long been undervalued in the labour market. In January 2013, Italy became the first country in Europe, and the first among the countries receiving migrant domestic workers, to ratify International Labour Organization Convention No. 189, the Domestic Workers Convention. In contrast to the unprecedented dedication to domestic workers’ labour rights specified in C189, the majority of domestic workers presently in Italy are migrant women and undeclared workers. This article draws on interviews to show how Italy’s ratification of C189 was accomplished through well-organised tripartism and top-down ratification processes, while perpetuating the undervaluation of the work status of migrant domestic workers. KEYWORDS: Domestic workers; ILO Convention No. 189; Italy; migrant workers; labour protection

Pekerja Rumah Tangga dan Organisasi Masyarakat Sipil: Persoalan Tentang Ruang Kebebasan Sipil di Indonesia

Domestic workers or often known as household assistants or domestic helpers are no stranger to their existence in the lives of Indonesian people, both in rural and urban areas. Domestic worker or abbreviated as PRT is a job where the worker offers services to the employer to do various household chores, such as washing, cooking, cleaning the house, caring for children, and other household chores. The existence of domestic workers as informal workers or domestic workers in the household has not been accompanied by clear and concrete legal rules to recognize and protect domestic workers in their work, so that domestic workers often become subjects that are ignored and underestimated, from a status that is marginal and does not exist, not even rare. Receiving treatment that is detrimental to domestic workers, such as violations of rights, sexual harassment, to torture or violence perpetrated by employers against domestic workers. Against the backdrop of cases of violations of domestic workers' rights, domestic workers have begun to have the courage to strive for their rights to be protected by the state. Efforts to seek decent work for domestic workers have been contained in the Domestic Workers Bill and the existence of ILO Convention No.189. However, until now the Indonesian state government has not ratified the Domestic Workers Bill to become the Domestic Workers Law. Therefore it requires the participation of all elements of the state including the government and civil society. Through Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), it is hoped that they can become a bridge for people's aspirations and voices to push for the ratification of the PPRT Bill. Apart from that, as a democratic country, CSOs are also needed to claim the title of a democratic country for Indonesia so that civic freedoms can be upheld for the sake of achieving people's welfare. Especially for marginalized people like domestic workers.

Mapping domestic workers’ organizing globally

Domestic workers face challenges for organizing, e.g. decentralization of the workforce, nature of the employment relationship. This article analyses, based on a multiple country-comparison, how domestic workers organize despite constrictions. We identify three forms of organizing: the trade union model and the association model (Shireen Ally). We propose, though, an additional third model, the ‘hybrid type’: domestic workers organize ‘amongst themselves’ in associations and at the same time these associations are linked to or integrated into trade unions, which provides representation, services and contact with other workers. Related to this finding, we see a trend of an ‘emerging trade unionism’. Which means that we tend to find more trade union-related forms of organizing than a decade ago. One explanatory factor is the “governance struggle” of winning the International Labour Organization’s Convention “Decent Work for Domestic Workers” in 2011, which led to an increased collaboration and trust-building between organized domestic workers and trade unions.

Decent Work for Domestic Workers in Argentina

Abstract Informality characterized domestic work in Argentina. Only 24% of domestic workers are formal workers. Therefore, informality became the target for transforming domestic work into “decent work,” following the International Labor Organization’s agenda. Looking at three different state institutions participating in this transformation—the Argentine Congress, National Tax Agency and Domestic Work Tribunal, this article seeks to understand how the notion of informality and the conceptualization of this particular labor relationship condition institutional responses. Thus, the article shows that in order to expand domestic workers’ rights, the three institutions focus on one particular working-time arrangement: full-time work. As a result, domestic workers working a few hours per week for several employers do not access the same protections, and are only marginally included within the scope of the law. For them, decent work seems to be unattainable.

Building Support Networks 25 Years After Beijing: The Case of Women Domestic Workers in Ethiopia and Tanzania

abstract In view of the Beijing +25 celebration, I draw upon ethnographic research in Ethiopia and Tanzania to examine various forms of action mobilised by governments and formal and informal women’s labour movements for the improvement of domestic workers’ rights. Domestic work is one of the most important sources of employment for women in both countries. Yet the lack of adequate protection leaves domestic workers open to several forms of abuse and exploitation. Various activists are lobbying governments for the improvement of domestic workers’ conditions in terms of payment, enforcement of written contracts, access to social protection, and the right to a safe work environment. Labour activists are currently advocating for the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 189 ‘Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers’. In particular, they mobilise support networks at local, regional, national and international level, and emphasise the need for domestic workers themselves to be on the frontline. Despite their efforts, they face many challenges in organising domestic workers, and there is little awareness of their actions among domestic workers themselves; much remains to be done to achieve significant advances in the rights of domestic workers. The article argues that in the absence of institutional social protection, domestic workers’ mobilisation of other strategies of action outside of formal channels, such as neighborhood interactions and informal gatherings which work as sources of emotional, practical and material support, are also important in the advancing of domestic workers’ rights. It is argued that both formal and informal approaches have relevance for academic research and activists who seek to foster new solutions to achieve improvements in domestic workers’ rights.

PERSPEKTIF VIKTIMOLOGIS BAGI PEKERJA RUMAH TANGGA DALAM HAL KELAYAKAN BEKERJA


 Domestic Workers (PRT) are very helpful figures in the household, a clean and healthy home will provide a comfortable atmosphere for the whole house. The duties of domestic workers are so important that the International Labor Organization (ILO) regulates their rights in ILO Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work For Domestic Workers. However, on the other hand, the reality is actually far from what is stipulated in the convention. In Indonesia, there are still many violations of rights against them. This article seeks to discuss the legal position of domestic workers according to Law No. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower and the position of domestic workers in the perspective of victimization and legal protection for domestic workers and the urgency of the Protection Act for Domestic Workers. The absence of national laws in terms of protection for domestic workers has made this group victims. Conditions of working hours and wages that have no clear rules have placed domestic workers as victims. Keywords: Domestic Workers, Eligibility to Work.

The Rights Movement for Domestic Workers in the Philippines

Until recently, two types of domestic worker –migrant domestic workers and local domestic workers– had seldom been considered as workers in the same sector in the Philippines. However, during the ratification campaign for ILO 189 Convention for Decent Work for Domestic Workers, or C189 and the creation and enactment of the Batas Kasambahay, a local law under C189, the two types of domestic worker have started to connect and even work together for the first time in various ways. In this, the labor union of the Philippines, which used not to be an active advocate for migrant domestic workers’ rights, has emerged as a new actor during and after the ratification of C189. This article will explore how the ratification of C189 had an impact on both migrant domestic workers and local domestic workers’ rights movements in the Philippines.

Comparative Legal Analysis of Domestic Worker’s Legal Status under International and Russian Law

Purpose: The article aims to identify the international legal mechanisms for protecting the labour rights of domestic workers and determine the extent of their conformity with the Russian legislation. Structure / Methodology / Approach: To determine the mechanisms for protecting the labour rights of domestic workers, it seems necessary: first, to estimate the efficiency of the international legal mechanisms; second, to analyze the labour standards of the Russian legislation aimed at the legal registration of such labour relations; third, to study the provisions of the legislation in a number of states; fourth, to formulate recommendations on the implementation of the provisions of the international labour law in part of regulation of domestic workers’ labour; fifth, to determine the legal prospects for the Russia's participation in ILO Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Results: The conducted comparative legal analysis showed that the Russian legislation in general complies with the provisions of ILO Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work. However, in practice labour relations with domestic workers are rarely subject to legal formalization, which results in the violation of rights of such workers without further consequences. The authors propose to enshrine in the legislation the employer's obligation to conclude written employment contracts. Besides, the authors have developed proposals for improving the existing labour legislation in accordance with the international standards. Practical Implications: The results can be used to improve international legal regulations, as well as in the formulation of policies aimed to protect and promote the labour rights. Originality / Value. The main contribution of this study is the elaboration of ways aimed at progressive development of international and national legal regulation of relations associated with the legal status and labour of domestic workers.

Decolonising Labour, Reclaiming Subaltern Epistemologies: Brazilian Domestic Workers and the International Struggle for Labour Rights

Abstract This study explores the labour rights discourse produced by Brazilian domestic workers. It shows that the 2015 Brazilian legislation which extended labour rights to domestic workers was not simply a ‘boomerang effect’ of ILO Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers, or a case of the ‘vernacularisation’ of global rights. Indeed, domestic workers have agitated for equal labour rights since 1936, and articulated the specific rights contained in the new legislation decades before their institutional recognition. Therefore, rather than being an instance of the translation of pre-existing global frameworks at the local level, the case of domestic workers demonstrates the ability of subaltern groups to transnationalise their demands, suggesting that the global South should not be conceived only as a place of rights reception, but also as a place of rights production. In this context, I trace the genealogy of the labour rights discourse as imagined and mobilised by domestic workers in Brazil, and examine the ways in which they have travelled between their subaltern location, the Brazilian state and the international agenda about ‘decent work.’

Innovative approaches to regulating decent work for domestic workers in Côte d'Ivoire: Labour administration and the judiciary under a general labour code

AbstractThe authors offer a contextualized analysis of judicial decisions rendered during 1971–2013 in Côte d'Ivoire, where domestic work is regulated by a general labour code. Assessments of those decisions, alongside qualitative interviews of institutional actors, elucidate how innovative practices were mainly derived from the code by attentive inspectors and by jurisprudence evolving to treat domestic work like any other. Yet limitations emanating from the inability to grapple with the specificity of domestic work are also identified. Reaffirming that the regulation of domestic work must embrace its duality (work like any other and work like no other), the authors conclude with a call for an international community of learning on decent work for domestic workers.

Domestic workers regulation

Brazil ratified ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers on January 31, 2018. By doing so, Brazil became the 25th ILO member state and the 14th ILO member state in the Americas to ratify Convention 189. The ratification of Convention 189 represents a milestone in a regulatory process in Brazil towards equality of rights between domestic workers and other workers that began with the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution. The regulation of domestic work by labor law in Br...

ILO Pioneering on Domestic Workers – Migrant Women Issues

Abstract This paper focuses on domestic workers, with particular attention paid to migrant women and their social protection. The ILO Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers is discussed and its possibilities and limits are highlighted. The response of EU legislation to the phenomenon of domestic work is also analysed. In conclusion, domestic work is labelled as a possible source of inspiration for future regulation of another, in many aspects, similar phenomenon – collaborative economy.

International regulations against human and labor exploitation in domestic work: the UN and the ILO

Domestic work is a precarious job with risk of deriving situations of human exploitation (slavery, servitude, forced labor, trafficking in human beings) or labor (non-compliance with labor standards). Situations of human exploitation are prohibited in the universal human rights texts and in the conventions on slavery of the United Nations. The Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery recommends a two-pronged approach to erradicating domestic servitude: repressive criminal treatment / improvement of labor regulation. In this last line, the ILO has approved Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 on decent work for domestic workers (2011). The contents of these norms and recommendations are analyzed in order to examine what Spain must do to improve compliance with its international commitments.

The ILO Domestic Workers Convention and regulatory reforms in Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. A comparative study of working time and remuneration regulations

AbstractIn June 2011, the International Labour Conference adopted the Convention concerning decent work for domestic workers, No. 189, and its accompanying Recommendation No. 201. From a comparative law standpoint, this article seeks to analyse the role played by Convention No. 189 on regulatory reforms, focusing on the legislative measures taken in three Latin American countries that have ratified it: Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. An analysis is also made of the discussions and controversies that have determined the way in which the working time and wage provisions contained in the Convention have been incorporated into the national laws on paid domestic work in these three countries.

Introduction

The special issue contains two articles prepared for the third biennial Labour Law Research Network Conference, in Toronto in 2017, that examine national regulation on domestic work in the light of the ILO’s landmark Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (Convention No. 189) and its accompanying Recommendation No. 201. (53(1) Int’l Legal Materials 250–266 (2014).) It includes a third contribution, prepared under an International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Small Grant for Research Innovation. The special issue discusses examples of regulatory innovation on decent work for domestic workers from Europe (Germany), Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Paraguay) and Africa (South Africa).

Special Section: Regulatory Innovation on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the Light of International Labour Organization Convention No. 189

Special Section: Regulatory Innovation on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the Light of International Labour Organization Convention No. 189

Regulatory Innovation in the Governance of Decent Work for Domestic Workers in South Africa: Access to Justice and the Commission on Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration

South Africa ratified the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) in 2013, after playing an important role in the adoption of the Convention. South Africa is one of the countries that has a significant domestic work population that reflects the legacies of slavery and apartheid. South Africa is also one of the ILO Members to have acted decisively to foster decent work for domestic workers through law. This article offers a critical analysis of the legislative landscape on domestic work in South Africa, but focuses its attention on the innovative Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The article draws on interviews and participant observations of the CCMA’s approach to dispute resolution. It canvasses the ethnographic material alongside key scholarship on topic, to suggest that there are firm indicia that the CCMA structure, procedures and accessibility have helped to reinforce, over time, a recognition that domestic work is a form of employment to which labour law principles apply. The institution, its structure, its attempt at inclusion, play a crucial mediating role, underscoring that state law is applicable to the household as a workplace, and can help to change its asymmetrical, pluralist law. That mediation is part of the aspiration of decent work for domestic workers embodied in Convention No. 189 and Recommendation No. 201. The article concludes by affirming that the CCMA is a critically important institution, only part – but also a meaningful part – of the promise of labour law’s ‘citizenship at work’ in the context of persisting societal inequality.