WUNRN
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BRAZIL - DOMESTIC WORKERS'
LEGISLATION & RIGHTS - GLOBAL MOMENTUM
A
constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for domestic workers in
Brazil comes into force on 2 April. Several countries have now passed
legislation protecting domestic workers – evidence that the momentum sparked by
the ILO Convention on domestic workers is growing.
2 April 2013 - GENEVA (ILO News) – Brazil’s six and a half
million domestic workers are now covered by a new law giving them equal rights
with other workers.
The constitutional amendment, which was passed unanimously in the Brazilian
Senate at the end of March, establishes 16 new rights for domestic workers,
such as the right to overtime pay, a maximum eight hour working day and 44 hour
working week.
Some of the changes will come into force on 2 April 2013 and others will have
to be regularized, including a new provision whereby employers will pay the
equivalent of eight per cent of their monthly salary into a fund which will be
made available upon compulsory redundancy, death and other contingencies.
Domestic workers’ trade unions in Brazil have been pushing for reforms in the
law for many years. It is the latest in a series of legislative changes in
several countries following the ILO’s adoption, in June 2011, of the ILO
Convention No. 189 and Recommendation
No. 201 concerning decent work for domestic workers
Eliminating abuses
Domestic workers are often exploited and can be subject to abuse and violence.
The convention aims to eliminate such abuses and ensure decent working
conditions and pay for domestic workers worldwide.
Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO’s Conditions of Work
and Equality Department, welcomed the vote in the Brazilian Senate, which
was passed unanimously at the end of March after being approved in the lower
house.
“With the passing of this law, so culminates Brazil’s process of recognizing
the dignity and value of domestic work and domestic workers, who are to a large
extent black women - a process which began in 1998 when, for the first time,
the Constitution included a number of important labour guarantees for these
workers. Today's Senate decision is one additional step towards narrowing the
historical divide between the richest and "whiter" stratum of society
and the poorest and "darker" lower end of the social ladder,” Tomei
said.
It is particularly significant given the dramatic rise in the numbers of
domestic workers in Brazil over the last few years – from 5.1 million to 6.6
million between 1995 and 2011. 17 per cent of all jobs for women are in thede
domestic work sector. Latin America is one of the world’s fastest growing
regions in the domestic work sector.
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Facts and figures on
domestic workers |
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Worldwide |
By region |
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Global momentum
Argentina also passed a bill in March, which limits working hours and ensures
paid annual and maternity leave for domestic workers. The Indian Parliament
included domestic workers in legislation to eradicate sexual harassment at
work, which was passed last February.
Since the Convention’s adoption, a total of nine countries have passed new laws
or regulations improving domestic workers’ labour and social rights, including
Venezuela, Bahrain, the Philippines, Thailand, Spain and Singapore. Legislative
reforms have also begun in Finland, Namibia, Chile and the United States, among
others.
So far four countries have ratified ILO Convention 189 – Uruguay, Philippines,
Mauritius and Italy. Several others have initiated the process of ratification,
including South Africa, Costa Rica and Germany.
The European Commission is also pressing EU countries to implement the ILO
Convention and has called for safeguards to protect young domestic workers.
According to an ILO study from January 2013, entitled Domestic
Workers Across the World, at least 52 million people around the world
– mainly women – are employed as domestic workers. At the time of the research,
only ten per cent were covered by general labour legislation to the same extent
as other workers. More than one quarter were completely excluded from national
labour legislation.
ILO legal specialist on working conditions, Martin Oelz, said that the signs
are encouraging: “The Convention and Recommendation on domestic workers have
effectively started to play their role as catalysts for change. Giving social
dialogue a central place, these global minimum standards now serve as a
starting point for devising new polices in a growing number of countries.”
Website Includes ILO Convention 189
in 6 UN Official Language Translations.
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Domestic
workers who care for families and households must have the same basic labour
rights as other workers. These rights include:
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http://www.arabnews.com/news/447995
BANGLADESH MAIDS READY FOR JOBS IN
SAUDI ARABIA
Dhaka - MD Rasooldeen - 13 April 2013
Bangladesh is to send thousands of its women aged 25 to 45 to work as housemaids in the Kingdom.
“Thousands of women are to be trained here for overseas employment in the Kingdom, other Middle Eastern countries and Far East countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore,” Begum Shamsun Nahar, director general of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), told Arab News here yesterday.
She said talks were held with a Saudi delegation last month on the employment of Bangladeshi housemaids. She said the recruitment process would commence after an agreement is signed between the two parties.
She said the Saudi delegation also visited the BMET training centers where
housemaids are being trained for Middle East postings. The members of the delegation
were satisfied with the training provided.
"The delegation also saw how smart cards and biometric passports are
issued for foreign workers in our country, which would prevent impersonation
and ensure the right worker goes to the right job,” she said.
Housemaids are trained over 21 days.
The government has stipulated $ 200 as a minimum wage for housemaids working in the Middle East and $ 500 for other jobs. The government launched online registration of female workers last week in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet.
Nahar said the online program eliminates intermediaries in the recruitment process, with women workers dealing directly with the government.
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WUNRN Asks: Protective advocates/support services for domestics,
ability to call/contact families in Bangladesh, right to keep Passports and all
identity documents, medical care, specifics on terms/contracts of work and
clearly defined payment for itemized services rendered,
protection/accountability on violence, sexual abuse of domestics....
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