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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of migrant workers have been forced to return to their homes or are languishing in their destination countries without jobs, and Nepali migrant workers are no exception. In 2019, Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment...
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Domestic Workers Left out in the Cold
Domestic workers—at great risk during the pandemic crisis—are mobilizing to secure rapid relief and protection says the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). This International Domestic Workers Day, more than 60 million of the world’s estimated 67 million...
INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS DAY
June 16, 2020 Today marks the fourth anniversary of the United Nation’s passage of Domestic Workers Convention 189, which asserts that domestic workers are entitled to the same basic rights as those available to other workers, including weekly days...
Domestic Workers: Healing, Growing, Taking Action
As long-time union activists helping domestic workers form unions and get a voice on the job, Andrea Del Carmen Morales Pérez and Librada Maciel found themselves fighting burnout—from stress, from nonstop work and from unrecognized trauma they carried with them for...
Honduran Domestic Workers Join Newly Formed Union
Domestic workers in Honduras increasingly are exercising their rights on the job in the country, where they have few labor law protections and so are especially vulnerable to abuse. More than 100 workers recently joined SINTRAHO (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadoras del...
When the Job Hurts: Workplace Injury and Disease among South Africa’s Domestic Workers
Through individual case studies and legal analysis, When the Job Hurts demonstrates the need for domestic workers in South Africa to receive the same coverage under the country's job safety and health compensation law as other workers. Download report.
Briefing on the Trafficking and Severe Labor Exploitation of Domestic Workers
Friday, January 17, 2020 Hosted by the Office of U.S. House Representative Pramila Jayapal and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, this briefing will focus on the prevalence of trafficking, severe labor exploitation, wage theft and abuse and harassment in...
Domestic Workers in Mexico Win Landmark Rights Law
Legislation requiring written contracts, paid vacation and annual bonuses for domestic workers passed Mexico’s House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The landmark law, which also prohibits employers from hiring...
‘Domestic Workers Work from Morning to Evening with No Break’
I am Marie Constant, I am from Madagascar. I have worked as a domestic worker in Lebanon since 1997. I work for one person only. The work is difficult, especially when we receive guests as we don’t have choice but stay up late working until the guests leave which is...
Marie Constant: Empowering Domestic Workers in Lebanon
Marie Constant has worked as a domestic worker in Lebanon since 1997. Originally from Madagascar, Constant has been fortunate to have a good employer. But most migrant domestic workers are not so lucky. "In general, domestic workers [must] work from morning until...
Domestic Workers Lead the Change
Domestic workers are at the forefront of change in many countries, highlighted by the adoption of the Decent Work for Domestic Workers convention by the International Labor Organization, and the creation of the International Domestic Workers Federation. Yet this...
Domestic Workers Fight for Their Rights in Kenya
Domestic workers are some of the world’s most vulnerable workers, comprising a significant part of the global workforce in informal employment. Lucy Nyangasi, 26, a domestic worker in Nairobi, is one of some 67 million workers who labor in households around the world,...
Racial Equality Tops Domestic Workers Meeting in Brazil
Some 40 domestic workers from 17 countries across North and South America and the Caribbean shared organizing tactics, hammered out resolutions and participated in Solidarity Center training on gender-based violence at work at a recent conference in São Paulo, Brazil....
Kenya Domestic Workers Push for Convention Ratification
Hundreds of domestic workers rallied in front of the Kenya Parliament in Nairobi today, lobbying legislators to ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189, Decent Work for Domestic Workers. The effort is part of a larger campaign to improve wages...
Hong Kong, SAR: Migrant Domestic Workers Must Live In
Migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China, must live with their employers, according to a court ruling this week that rejected a case by a Philippine migrant worker who argued the rule violates Hong Kong SAR’s Bill of Rights and...
Migrant Domestic Workers Seek Rights in the Middle East
After spending seven years in Jordan as a domestic worker, Suryanti sought to return home to Indonesia to see her family. But her original employer, whom she left under duress, had confiscated her passport and would not give it back, leaving Suryanti in legal limbo as...
Victory for Kenya Domestic Workers Migrating for Jobs
Kenyans going abroad to work as domestic workers will be required to have contracts, salaries and details of their work assignments before they leave, according to the (Kenya) Daily Nation. The draft policy, crafted by the Labor Ministry and the Kenya Union of...
Sisters in solidarity: the communal care of domestic workers in the Middle East
The Domestic Workers Solidarity Network in Jordan is the first initiative of its kind in the country and one of few in the region. The network, whose motto is “Sisters in Solidarity,” aims to serve and support domestic workers through awareness-raising, legal assistance and roundtables in coordination with the Adalah Center for Human Rights Studies.
Mexican Domestic Workers Launch Job Contract Campaign
The Mexican domestic workers union, SINACTRAHO, last week launched a far-reaching campaign to ensure domestic workers across Mexico are covered by employment contracts. “Our goal is to have 10,000 workers sign a formal contract with their employers, in time for...
Kenya Domestic Workers Find Hope with Union
Like many women in Mombasa, Kenya, Alice Mwadzi says for years she barely eked out a living. A lack of jobs in the port city for many means a constant struggle to survive—selling fruit on busy highways or hauling carts stacked with heavy water containers through...