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Domestic Workers: Organizing, Coordinated Action and Bargaining I

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Domestic Workers: Organizing, Coordinated Action and Bargaining I LABOUR RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING No.2 IMPROVING WORKING CONDITIONS FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS: ORGANIZING, COORDINATED ACTION i AND BARGAINING The organization of domestic workers and their employers, and social dialogue, including collective bargaining, are key means of improving working conditions in a sector that is notoriously difficult to regulate. Introduction ISSUE BRIEF Domestic work is a sector with a high proportion of (b) the elimination of all forms of forced or vulnerable workers, many of whom are informally compulsory labour; employed. It is seldom recognized as an industry (c) the effective abolition of child labour; and consisting of workers and employers in an employment relationship. This may go some way to explaining why (d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of about half of all domestic workers are not covered by employment and occupation. labour protection, and often work extremely long hoursii 3. In taking measures to ensure that domestic workers for very low pay.iii Domestic workers are also at risk and employers of domestic workers enjoy freedom of because their work is performed in private households, association and the effective recognition of the right often escaping the inspection and oversight of the to collective bargaining, Members shall protect the authorities. right of domestic workers and employers of domestic In 2011, the ILO adopted a Convention concerning workers to establish and, subject to the rules of decent work for domestic workers. The Domestic the organization concerned, to join organizations, Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) states: federations and confederations of their own choosing.iv Article 3. The organization of workers and subsequent 2. Each Member shall, in relation to domestic advancement of their collective interests through workers, take the measures set out in this Convention mutual insurance, collective bargaining and law and to respect, promote and realize the fundamental policy reform have always played a key role in affording principles and rights at work, namely: workers labour protection. In the domestic work sector, however, the relative isolation of the domestic (a) freedom of association and the effective workplace, the highly individualized employment recognition of the right to collective bargaining; relationship and, in some countries, the legal barriers have limited the ability of workers’ and employers’ organizations to represent collective interests. i This issue brief was written by Claire Hobden. The author acknowledges the research support provided by Harmony Goldberg. ii For more information on the working time of domestic workers, see ILO 2011b and ILO 2013b iii For more information on remuneration in domestic work, see ILO 2011a iv As of 12 October 2015, ILO Convention on decent work for domestic workers (No. 189), 2011 has been ratified by 22 countries. 1 Nonetheless, some workers and employers are The existence of workers’ and employers’ organizations becoming organized and engaging in collective action, paves the way for collective bargaining, which can social dialogue in tripartite settings and, in some improve working conditions. Employers and workers cases, collective bargaining in order to improve working are often at a loss when it comes to setting tasks, conditions and protect domestic workers from the risk schedules, wages and hours. There is very limited scope of being engaged in unacceptable forms of work. for a single domestic worker to enter into a genuine negotiation about the terms of his or her employment contract. This may leave individual domestic workers Workers’ organizations have played a leading vulnerable to accepting work in “conditions that deny role in campaigning for domestic workers to fundamental principles and rights at work, put at risk be covered by labour protection. Workers’ and the lives, health, freedom, human dignity and security employers’ organizations, often in coalition with of workers or keep households in conditions of poverty”.vi other organizations, have campaigned for clarity in respect of the employment relationship. They have created networks that have raised awareness of Collective bargaining helps to ensure that the standards the associated rights and responsibilities, provided set satisfy the interests of both employers and workers. support to individual workers and employers involved Collective agreements that are inclusive of all domestic in contract negotiations, and helped authorities to workers, including migrant domestic workers, are also identify instances where workers may be subject to an important means of extending labour protection to unacceptable forms of work.v Coordinated action, for vulnerable categories of workers. example through the dissemination of model contracts, has proved an effective way of standardizing terms and This Issue Brief examines innovative approaches to conditions of employment. workers’ and employers’ organizations and collective bargaining that protect domestic workers from the risk of being engaged in unacceptable forms of work and afford them effective and inclusive labour protection. Organizing domestic workers The organisation of domestic workers involves a number the International Domestic Workers’ Federation of challenges. Domestic workers may not be recognized (IDWF), which now has 58 affiliated organizations in as ‘workers’ and the home may not be recognized as 46 countries, and has itself become an affiliate of a workplace in existing labour law, effectively denying the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, them the right to organize and effective recognition of Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ the right to collective bargaining. In order to establish Associations. National trade union confederations a trade union, national laws may require a minimum increasingly count domestic workers in their ranks number of members that is unattainable for domestic through a domestic workers’ union, for example in workers. Bolivia, Brazil, South Africa, Uruguay and many others. In the absence of unions, trade union confederations have also worked in coalition with other types of Even where domestic workers have organizational membership-based domestic workers’ organizations. and collective bargaining rights, their isolated and dispersed workplaces and long working hours create practical obstacles to the effective exercise of these In a number of countries organization of domestic rights. Domestic workers may not organize because workers into unions has facilitated collective they do not see themselves as workers, are not aware negotiations either on a minimum wage or a collective of unions or fear losing their job. Live-in and migrant agreement: Argentina, Belgium, France, Italy and domestic workers with irregular status are in an even Uruguay, for example. In some cases, the domestic more vulnerable situation as their freedom of movement workers’ union itself signed the agreement; in others it is limited both in fact and in law. was signed by the national trade union confederation. National trade union confederations have supported the domestic workers’ union through training and guidance Despite these obstacles, there are a growing number to represent the demands and negotiate collectively on of domestic workers’ organizations around the world. behalf of domestic workers. The resulting agreements In 2013, a group of 14 such organizations founded (whether tripartite agreements on minimum wages v For more on the role of organizations in ensuring compliance, see Fine 2006 and J. Fine and J. Gordon (2010). Strengthening Labor Standards Enforcement through Partnerships with Workers’ Organizations, in Politics & Society December 2010 vol. 38 no. 4 552-585. vi This reflects the ILO definition of unacceptable forms of work. See ILO: The Director-General’s Programme and Budget proposals for 2014–15, Report II (Supplement), International Labour Conference, 102nd Session, Geneva, 2013, para. 49. 2 or bipartite collective agreements) have been widely certain radio stations have dedicated time slots for disseminated by these unions and their networks, domestic workers through which information on rights ensuring that workers are informed of the provisions is shared. Using social networks can also facilitate the they contain and that cases of non-compliance are organization of migrant domestic workers, who form identified. groups based on nationality, ethnicity or language for mutual support.x In order to ensure the effective representation of domestic workers, unions have adapted their outreach Unions of domestic workers face a number of challenges strategies to reflect their specific situation of isolated in developing solidarity and in formulating demands, and dispersed workplaces and time constraints. including the high mobility of domestic workers and These strategies represent new paradigms of worker the lack of a common employer. They have adopted a organization in dispersed and often informal workforces.vii number of measures, such as setting a central place Rather than building membership on the shop floor, and regular time for meetings, to build unity and lay domestic workers are organized through social networks, the groundwork for establishing collective demands building on pre-existing relationships.viii Many unions based on collective experience. As members come reach out to domestic workers by distributing leaflets in together, they discuss their workplace concerns, share places where domestic workers often
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