Proposed ILO Convention Could Protect Migrant Domestic Workers’ Rights

“They tell us we don’t have rights and want us to beg at their feet. There are often day-to-day threats: ‘If you go out on the streets, they will kill you,’” said Antonia Pena, domestic worker and leader of Casa de Maryland, at a panel discussion last month at American University Washington College of Law. […]

“They tell us we don’t have rights and want us to beg at their feet. There are often day-to-day threats: ‘If you go out on the streets, they will kill you,’” said Antonia Pena, domestic worker and leader of Casa de Maryland, at a panel discussion last month at American University Washington College of Law. As defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO), a domestic worker is “a worker employed for housekeeping tasks by a private household.” Tens of millions of people are classified as migrant domestic workers, a sweeping majority of them women and girls aged 11 or 12, or even as young as seven, who migrate from their home country in search of domestic employment. Governments worldwide are gearing up for the ILO’s 99th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June, and one agenda item will cover standards needed to protect domestic migrant workers from abuse and exploitation. Will the U.S. champion the rights of minority migrant women and girls on a global scale, or will it pay polite lip-service to the efforts of rights advocates?

Common Abuses
Pena arrived in the U.S. 10 years ago, and her employer, like many others who hire migrant domestic workers, did not sign a contract. As employer-based visas legally bind the worker with the employer, employers entrap their workers by stealing their passports or papers. In most circumstances, if the worker leaves the job, she will lose immigration status, often resulting in her tolerating horrific treatment. Domestic work is largely undervalued, as it is not thought of as actual work, so migrant domestic workers typically endure long working days, use of toxic chemicals, inadequate food, and degrading treatment, like physical and sexual abuse.

Children Doing “Women’s Work”
Domestic labor has gone from being considered a middle- and upper-class amenity to one of the “worst forms of child labor.” As societies continue to redefine women’s roles, the ugly truth about child domestic workers is slowly being revealed. Hundreds of thousands of children, primarily girls, are domestic workers, and, according to the ILO, “The perpetuation of traditional female roles and responsibilities within and outside the household, and the perception of domestic service as part of a woman’s apprenticeship for adulthood and marriage, also contribute to the low recognition of domestic work as a form of economic activity, and of child domestic labour as a form of child labour.” Videos produced by ILO and Human Rights Watch vividly depict domestic work being a far cry from girls simply assisting as “helpers.”

Next week, The Hague will host the Global Labour Conference. Organized by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in close collaboration with the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Bank, the conference will focus on ways to strengthen ILO Conventions Nos. 138 (Minimum Age) and 182 (Worst Forms of Child Labour), and will suggest possible strategies to combat child domestic labor. Tomorrow, the ILO will issue its Global Report for 2010, entitled, “Accelerating action against child labour.”

A Weak Bill Will Advance Domestic Worker Rights
Existing loopholes in laws, visa schemes favoring employers, and racism have contributed to continual exploitation of domestic workers, even though under ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, domestic workers have the right to organize, strike, and collectively bargain. In the U.S., the National Labor Relations Act exempts domestic workers; technically, domestic workers can assert their rights under the U.S. Constitution, but these conventions and constitution do not specifically address work conducted in private homes, nor do they ensure decent working conditions.

Carol Pier, associate deputy undersecretary, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, said that the U.S. requested a convention on the rights of migrant domestic workers – which came as a surprise. There is doubt among workers and advocates that the U.S. will ratify the convention if it becomes an international treaty, considering its record: The last convention ratified by the U.S. was No. 182—over a decade ago. Of the 188 Conventions, the ILO has selected eight core labor standards, five of which have yet to be ratified by the U.S.

Pier quipped, “We don’t want a convention too robust because U.S. law, frankly, isn’t that good.” If the convention is “too robust” and cannot easily be assimilated into existing U.S. legislation, the U.S. will refuse to ratify it. When reviewing America’s history of ratification, it appears that the U.S. will only support efforts in migrant domestic worker rights if they are watered down enough to be unobtrusive, and potentially ineffective.

Last week, Human Rights Watch issued a 26-page report reviewing labor conditions in eight countries fraught with migrant domestic labor. Although governments gripe about the “impossibility” of monitoring violations in private homes and issues with employer privacy, Hong Kong and South Africa have established noteworthy models with legislation supporting the right to a minimum wage, overtime pay, a weekly day of rest, maternity leave, and paid annual leave. Overall, however, the report criticized worldwide governments’ slow-moving reforms for not making much-needed advances, specifically in the Middle East and Asia.

Is U.S.’s Groundbreaking Bill a Sign of Hope?
Inspired by a new administration, I certainly hope the U.S. will take notice of the plight of migrant domestic workers, break the decade-long-plus moratorium, and ratify a potentially binding treaty, should one come into being. “Having an instrument on paper is worthless without implementation,” said Pier. True, but a groundbreaking bill approved in Montgomery County, Maryland may indicate that the U.S. is beginning to move in the right direction.

After years of campaigning by Domestic Workers United and its Committee of Women Seeking Justice, Bill 2-08, thought to be the nation’s first piece of legislation to regulate employers of domestic workers, was passed in 2008 and gives domestic workers the right to collective bargaining, access to a private room with key and to a kitchen, and requires employers to provide domestic workers with a contract and a written notice of their rights.

This bill, however, is still in implementation. “It doesn’t have teeth yet,” said Pier, “and we’re still waiting for success stories,” but similar campaigns are fighting for a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in New York and California. Let’s hope the “tipping point” phenomenon occurs and this lone bill of Maryland sparks a mighty comeuppance for egregious employers and influences other states to unite in protecting migrant domestic workers’ rights.

Monique Marie DeJong currently works in Washington, D.C. as a freelance journalist and editor. She recently was the U.S. reporter for London’s Centre for Investigative Journalism, reporting on corporate corruption and human rights and environmental violations. Prior to reporting, she worked for two years as an associate editor for NBC’s TODAY show travel editor in Los Angeles, California.

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Original source : http://mediavoicesforchildren.org/?p=5393…