Early Victory!

Domestic workers move closer to their dream of full legal coverage, decent work standards, and ample protection against abuse and exploitation as delegates in the 99th Session of the International Labor Conference (ILC) decided to move for a binding International Labor Convention accompanied by a recommendation. 

During the meeting of the Committee on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the ILC, majority of representatives from government, trade unions, and employers groups voted for the adoption of standards concerning decent work for domestic workers.  More importantly, the Committee decided that the standard should take the form of a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation.

Trade union advocates and government representatives from the Philippines, the United States, the United Kingdom, and countries from Latin America and Africa who are supportive of a Convention successfully staved off efforts by some employers groups for the Committee to move for only a non-binding Recommendation. 

The vote paved the way for discussions on the content and substance of the proposed international labor instrument.  The ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, if adopted in 2011 and ratified by ILO member state, will provide a global legal framework for the inclusion of domestic workers in labor laws, extend decent work standards such as fair wages, social security, security of tenure, protection against abuse, and the right to organize and bargain collectively.  The Recommendation will provide for possible mechanisms for implementation.

Members of the Technical Working Group on the Philippine Campaign on Decent Work for Domestic Workers are at the forefront of discussions.  The Chairperson of the Committee is Undersecretary Lourdes Trasmonte of the Department of Labor and Employment with Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz and Assistant Secretary Rebecca Calzado acting as government representatives.  Reports also cited the active participation and passionate defense of trade union representatives from the Federation of Free Workers and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines of the position of the workers groups (click here for Workers/Civil Society Positions and statements).

Meanwhile, migrant workers advocacy groups led by the Migrant Forum in Asia, Center for Migrant Advocacy, and the Asian Domestic Workers Alliance are active in lobbying, holding dialogues with delegates from key countries, and monitoring the status of debates (click here for activities and statements from Migrant Forum in Asia).  TWG members from the Visayan Forum and SUMAPI are also on-hand to lend technical assistance during committee deliberations.