ILO Adopts Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers

GENEVA, (ILO News) – The government, worker and employer delegates at the 100^th
annual Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on
Thursday, 16 June adopted a historic set of international standards aimed at
improving the working conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers
worldwide.

“We are moving the standards system of the ILO into the informal economy for
the first time, and this is a breakthrough of great significance,” said Juan
Somavia, ILO Director-General. “History is being made.”

Conference delegates adopted the Convention
on Domestic Workers (2011) by a vote of 396 to 16, with 63 abstentions and
the accompanying Recommendation
by a vote of 434 to 8, with 42 abstentions. The ILO is the
only tripartite organization of the UN, and each of its 183 Member States is
represented by two government delegates, and one employer and one worker
delegate, with an independent vote.

The two standards will be the 189th Convention and the supplementing 201^st
Recommendation adopted by the Labour Organization since its creation in 1919.
The Convention is an international treaty that is binding on Member States that
ratify it, while the Recommendation provides more detailed guidance on how to
apply the Convention.

The new ILO standards set out that domestic workers around the world who
care for families and households, must have the same basic labour rights as
those available to other workers: reasonable hours of work, weekly rest of at
least 24 consecutive hours, a limit on in-kind payment, clear information on
terms and conditions of employment, as well as respect for fundamental
principles and rights at work including freedom of association and the right to
collective bargaining.

Recent ILO estimates based on national surveys and/or censuses of 117
countries, place the number of domestic workers at around 53 million. However,
experts say that due to the fact that this kind of work is often hidden and
unregistered, the total number of domestic workers could be as high as 100
million. In developing countries, they make up at least 4 to 12 per cent of
wage employment. Around 83 per cent of these workers are women or girls and
many are migrant workers.

The Convention defines domestic work as work performed in or for a household
or households. While the new instruments cover all domestic workers, they
provide for special measures to protect those workers who, because of their
young age or nationality or live-in status, may be exposed to additional risks
relative to their peers, among others.

According to ILO proceedings, the new Convention will come into force after
two countries have ratified it.

“Bringing the domestic workers into the fold of our values is a strong move,
for them and for all workers who aspire to decent work, but it also has strong
implications for migration and of course for gender equality,” Mr. Somavia
said.

In its introductory text, the new Convention says that “domestic work
continues to be undervalued and invisible and is mainly carried out by women
and girls, many of whom are migrants or members of disadvantaged communities
and who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in respect of conditions
of employment and work, and to other abuses of human rights.”

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, in her address to the
Conference Committee, said that the deficit of decent work among domestic
workers “can no longer be tolerated,” adding that UN Women would support the
process of ratification and application of the new ILO instruments.

“We need effective and binding standards to provide decent work to our
domestic workers, a clear framework to guide governments, employers and
workers,” said Halimah Yacob, the Workers Vice-Chair from Singapore. She noted
that the collective responsibility was to provide domestic workers with what
they lacked most: recognition as workers; and respect and dignity as human
beings.

Paul MacKay from New Zealand, the Employers Vice-Chair declared: “We all
agree on the importance of bringing domestic work into the mainstream and
responding to serious human rights concerns. All employers agree there are
opportunities to do better by domestic workers and the households and families
for whom they work”.

“Social dialogue has found its reflection in the results achieved here,” concluded
the Chair of the Committee, Mr. H.L. Cacdac, Government delegate from the
Philippines, when he closed the discussion.

“This is a truly major achievement,” said Manuela Tomei, Director of the
ILO’s Conditions
of Work and Employment Programme, calling the new standards “robust, yet
flexible.” Ms. Tomei added that the new standards make clear that “domestic
workers are neither servants nor ‘members of the family’, but workers. And
after today they can no longer be considered second-class workers.”

The adoption of the new standards is the result of a decision taken in March
2008 by the ILO Governing Body to place the elaboration of an instrument on the
agenda of the Conference. In 2010, the Conference held its first discussion and
decided to proceed with the drafting of a Convention supplemented by a
Recommendation adopted today.