Centres call for improved domestic workers’ rights

GORT Family Resource Centre is calling on the new Government to vote for an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers this summer.

Gort FRC, along with other FRCs in Mayo and Galway, made the call in support of International Women’s Day last week. Last Tuesday, the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, domestic workers’ organisations across the globe called on their Governments to vote for an ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
Governments will meet in June at the ILO conference in Geneva for the final time and determine if there will be international legally binding laws to protect the rights of millions of women and girls employed in this sector globally.
Hilda Regaspi of Migrant Rights Centre Ireland’s Domestic Workers Action Group says, “Domestic worker are underpaid and overworked. They are recognised as some of the most abused and exploited workers. They are the world’s ‘invisible workers’, isolated behind closed doors. Many suffer physical and physiological abuse at the hands of their employers and unfortunately this is also the situation for many domestic workers in Ireland.
“Despite providing essential roles such, as childminding, caring for elderly, cleaning and cooking, the valuable work of a domestic worker all too often goes unrecognised and underpaid. The reality is, in some countries national labour laws exclude domestic work, and until now, international standards have failed to protect them adequately. Wage exploitation, long working hours, forced labour, sexual, physical and psychological abuse and harassment is common.
“The sector needs detailed legislation to protect this historically neglected group and that is why we are calling on the Government to vote for ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers,” explained Annie Rozario of Gort FRC.
Trade unions and domestic worker organisations have been battling to get domestic work onto the ILO agenda for the last 50 years.
“Domestic workers are workers like any other. They should have the same rights as all other workers but this is not the case. An ILO Convention is needed to protect the rights of these workers and to give them the dignity, rights and recognition they need. The Domestic Workers Action is calling on the Irish Government to vote in favour of this convention and to ratify it after it is passed,” says Aoife Smith, coordinator of the group.