The Solidarity Center supports domestic workers' efforts to win their rights on the job and develop long-term policies for promoting decent work. Solidarity Center programs have helped partner organizations develop organizing strategies, advocate for policy change, and support international efforts to promote a standard-setting international convention on domestic work.
Around the world, domestic workers provide vital services for their employers including cleaning, cooking, caring for children and the elderly, repair and maintenance work, gardening, driving, and caring for household animals. Their work is a valuable social and economic foundation—allowing their employers to balance work and family obligations.
Domestic work plays an increasingly noticeable role in the global economy. According to the ILO, the worldwide demand for domestic work has resulted in a steady increase in these jobs over the past two decades. The ILO now estimates that there are “tens of millions” of domestic workers in the world today. Among this number there are a large and increasing number of migrant domestic workers and children under the age of 18.
Poor and often far from home, the overwhelming majority of domestic workers are young women who view the work as an opportunity to earn a living, but too often find themselves vulnerable to abuses—from low wages and long hours to physical abuse and human trafficking. Despite their growing numbers, their poverty, low social status, and isolation put distance between them and the political and social structures that could support them.
The trade union movement has increasingly lent its strength to support calls for domestic worker rights. Established trade unions are joined in many places by nascent domestic worker unions who are developing innovative organizing models and advocating at all levels of government to bring domestic work out of the shadows through access to social services and labor law protection.
The Solidarity Center supports these trends by encouraging the innovative attempts of partner organizations in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Indonesia, and Kenya to empower an entire sector of workers, while linking support for their organizing and advocacy efforts to a larger, global movement.
Kenya Union Launches Organizing Manual for Domestic Workers. January 27, 2012—With support from the Solidarity Center, the Kenyan domestic workers union KUDHEIHA recently developed an organizing manual specifically for domestic workers.
Organizing Domestic Workers: A Success Story and a Call to Action is “a guide, an encouragement, and a statement of solidarity with all domestic workers, organizers, and other champions of domestic workers’ rights.”
“The Beginning of Social Justice for Domestic Workers Internationally.” July 20, 2011 — Evaline Mulo knew that it was wrong for her employer to slap her and yell at her, but she did not feel strong enough to fight the abuse alone. With the aid of her union, she learned to stand up for her rights as a domestic worker and teach others to do the same.
Solidarity Center Applauds Adoption of Global Standard to Protect Domestic Workers. June 16, 2011—Today worker, government, and employer delegates to the 100th International Labor Conference in Geneva took a historic step, voting to adopt a convention aimed at giving domestic workers worldwide the same rights as other workers.
ILO Launches New Domestic Workers Website. June 1, 2011—Just in time for the June 1 opening session of the 100th International Labor Conference, the International Labor Organization (ILO) announced the launch of a new thematic website aimed at supporting decent work for domestic workers worldwide. The ILO is expected to discuss the adoption of a global standard to protect domestic worker rights. The site aims to facilitate information sharing and provide practical tools for activists and supporters.
Why an ILO Convention on Domestic Worker Rights? The Solidarity Center supports domestic workers' efforts to win their rights on the job and develop long-term policies for promoting decent work. Solidarity Center programs have helped partner organizations develop organizing strategies, advocate for policy change, and support international efforts to promote a standard-setting international convention on domestic work.
"Domestic Workers Deserve to Be Treated Like Other Workers." With four children and few options for supporting her family, Tamara did what a lot of poor Haitian women do: She sought work and a better life across the border in the Dominican Republic.
“By Organizing, We Are Not Alone.” As a college student and union leader in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Sayuti may not be a typical domestic worker, but she is passionate about domestic worker rights. Working part-time to pay for her and her sister’s educations, she hopes to start her own business one day, but she says she will keep working with the union forever.
Historic Victory: Domestic Workers in Dominican Republic to Gain Social Security Benefits. March 8, 2011—The government of the Dominican Republic is poised to bring nearly a quarter of a million domestic workers into the National Social Security system this year, providing a highly vulnerable and impoverished group with the rights and protections enjoyed by other workers in the country.
ILO Takes Big Step Toward Domestic Worker Rights. The International Labor Organization took a giant step forward in the fight to create workplace justice for millions of domestic workers around the world. At its International Labor Conference in Geneva, the ILO began the process to establish a first-ever international convention to protect the rights of domestic workers. Cross=posted from
AFL-CIO Now blog
Global Network Pushes for Domestic Worker Convention. The Solidarity Center stands with a global network formed to recognize the dignity of domestic workers, promote domestic workers' efforts to defend their rights, and call on trade union partners to support a new ILO convention for domestic workers.
Domestic Workers in the Dominican Republic Unite for Decent Work. The Solidarity Center supports worker associations that promote and protect the rights of domestic workers. ASOMUCI, an association of women workers in the Dominican Republic’s second largest city, Santiago de los Caballeros, reaches out to both Haitian migrant and Dominican domestic workers and trains them on their worker rights, including their right to join a union.
Solidarity Center Partners Fight for Domestic Worker Rights in Indonesia. With the help of the Solidarity Center, unions and NGO partners in Indonesia are supporting efforts to promote domestic worker rights.
Kenyan Union Makes Domestic Worker Rights a Strategic Priority. Thanks to the Solidarity Center and its Kenyan union partner, more than 3,000domestic workers in Nairobi and Kisumu are proud union members.
