Documents domestic worker 69 results

"The majority of domestic workers in South Africa are (black African) women. As long as women do not have the freedom to make their labour market choices, it cannot be said that they are empowered. Ideally, a move away from vulnerable employment into wage and salaried work would contribute towards the empowerment of women. However, the move from the agricultural sector to the services sector in private households hides the limited nature of women's empowerment. This article examines to what degree domestic workers in South Africa are afforded decent work institutionally. To this end, it considers four main challenges. First, the employment deficit: this means that people cannot find work or business opportunities in the formal economy. Second, the representational deficit: due to being unorganized, informal economy workers are excluded from (or under-represented in) social dialogue institutions and processes. Third, the rights deficit: workers' rights relating to freedom of association, collective bargaining, absence of forced labour, and discrimination are insufficient or non-existent. Fourth, the social protection deficit: clearly even though the workers in the domestic sector and informal economy are most in need of social protection, they are unable to access formal social protection schemes due to membership and contribution issues. It has been argued that when attempting to give meaning to the Decent Work Agenda, one may have regard to four strategic objectives, namely, promoting and realizing standards and fundamental principles and rights at work, creating opportunities for women (and men) to secure decent employment and income, enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all, and strengthening tripartism and social dialogue. This paper analyses and critically evaluates how these strategic objectives have been pursued with respect to domestic workers and to what extent they have been achieved."

"International migration over the last forty years has been one of the fastest growing phenomena in the world. Many migrants have taken up informal work, such as work in households doing domestic chores and other work. Due to the informal nature of this work and the fact that it is located in the home rather than a large work space with many employees (such as a factory), the so-called ‘employment relationship' does not always offer decent working conditions or ways to resolve disputes between workers and employers. After a number of high-profile cases of abuse, governments have become more active in negotiating bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding to address these issues for international migrant domestic workers. This paper will explore the issues and the legal tools used to provide a semblance of equity to the working relationships between international migrant domestic workers and their employers, as well as suggesting what should be done in the future."

"Lavoratrici e lavoratori domestici e assistenti familiari sono un esercito. Presidiano le case di moltissime famiglie, garantendo che siano pulite e accoglienti. Assicurano assistenza ad anziani e portatori di handicap. Tappano i buchi di un sistema di welfare carente. Fanno da zeppa a equilibri di coppia messi in crisi dalla difficoltà di ridefinire i ruoli di donne e uomini nella sfera familiare al crescere della partecipazione femminile al mercato del lavoro. Ma di quali diritti godono queste lavoratrici e questi lavoratori tanto importanti per il funzionamento della vita quotidiana? Frutto della collaborazione di studiosi con competenze diverse, questo libro ricostruisce il percorso che ha portato le lavoratrici e i lavoratori domestici a vedersi riconosciuti, seppur in ritardo e in modo parziale, diritti come ferie, tredicesima, contrattazione collettiva, ecc.: conquiste comunque importanti, alle quali pare però aver fatto spesso da contraltare l'allargarsi del ‘lavoro nero'. In questo scenario, gioca naturalmente un ruolo di rilievo la crescente presenza di immigrati. Il tema dei diritti di domestici e assistenti familiari sempre più s'intreccia, infatti, con quello dei diritti dei migranti. Ma si intreccia anche con il tema del welfare e dei diritti di chi, per trovare risposta al proprio bisogno di cura e assistenza, si avvale del loro lavoro. Il libro s'interroga, pertanto, su una possibile diversa organizzazione del lavoro domestico e di cura che assicuri maggiori diritti a colf e assistenti familiari e migliori prestazioni alle famiglie."

"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. "

"Domestic workers, who work in private households carrying out tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and care for children and the elderly, are overwhelmingly women and often from migrant and/ or ethnic minority backgrounds. This article examines a stark example of domestic workers' exclusion from labour law protection, regulation 57(3) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations, which exempts employers from paying the minimum wage where a worker lives in their employer's family home and is treated ‘as a member of the family' in relation to accommodation, meals, tasks and leisure activities. Drawing on feminist theory on the divisions between ‘productive' work outside the home versus ‘reproductive' work within it, it argues that the exemption's application has reflected gendered devaluation of domestic labour, stemming from its conflation with work normally performed for free by women in the ‘private sphere' of the home. Focusing on the December 2020 Employment Tribunal (ET) judgment in Puthenveettil v Alexander & ors, which held that the exemption was unlawful and indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex, the article provides timely and in-depth analysis of the prospects for challenging the devaluation of domestic work in light of the limitations of legal protections for domestic workers in the UK."

"Increasing attention has recently been paid to the situation of domestic workers at European Union (EU) level. The European Parliament, social partners and stakeholders have called on the European Commission to improve the working conditions and social protection of domestic workers within the limits of its Treaty competence. Domestic workers provide support services to households, including care (e.g. childcare or long-term care (LTC) for older people and for people with disabilities) and non-care activities (e.g. cleaning or cooking). At EU level, the concept of “domestic workers” has, for a decade, often been approached through the wider concept of “personal and household services (PHS) workers”. Domestic workers are often hired in non-standard forms of employment (including part-time, temporary employment and platform work), with frequently more limited access to social and labour protection. In some countries, self-employment is also widespread in the sector. In addition, undeclared work is an overarching issue among domestic workers, which undermines the social and labour protection rights of the workers concerned. Domestic work involves professions that are often listed as subject to shortages; for example, LTC workers. Domestic workers often acquire skills through their hands-on tasks, but it remains a challenge to have these skills validated and certified to facilitate access to more qualified work."

"According to the 2023 Labour Force Survey there are around 4800 domestic workers in North Macedonia (i.e. about 0.8% of all workers). Two thirds are employees and, among those, the vast majority (more than 80%) have a permanent contract. Domestic work is recognised under labour legislation although there is a lack of precise legal provisions specifying normative rights. However, domestic workers without employment contracts do not benefit from rights under the Law on Labour Relations, while their social protection is even less explicit as none of the associated legislation in this sector specifically targets domestic work. The way forward for improving social protection and labour rights for domestic workers in North Macedonia should include: (a) expanding the legal definition of workers to include workers who do not have an employment contract but are in a real employment relationship; (b) including domestic workers in the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance; and (c) including domestic workers as the eligible and targeted beneficiaries of active labour market programmes and measures."

"Survey data suggests that there are around 2000 domestic workers in Kosovo (i.e. around 0.5% of all workers). Women are present in greater numbers, while most domestic workers are aged between 35 and 49. However, Kosovo currently lacks a specific legal framework and clear legal definition of domestic workers. The general collective agreement was the only formal document that explicitly acknowledged domestic work, but this expired in 2017 and no new agreement has been agreed. The legal framework that pertains to formal employees there­ fore only extends to domestic workers under contract, leaving the majority of workers in this sector without adequate labour and social protection. Since most domestic work is, in reality, undeclared, this situation makes workers highly vulnerable. Current policy discussions are focused on formally defining domestic workers within the proposed new law on labour and on improving employment registration procedures to benefit all stakeholders, although these are still in their early stages. The article concludes with a series of suggestions for improving such workers' social protection and labour rights."