On a trip to Kuwait two years ago, Nisha Varia from Human Rights Watch visited a hospital where two rooms were filled with injured domestic workers who had tried to escape from their employers’ homes. Trapped in abusive situations, the women jumped from windows or...
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Oretha Tarnue: Mobilizing, Empowering Liberian Domestic Workers
Each day this week leading up to International Women’s Day March 8, the Solidarity Center will highlight an example of how women and their unions are taking action to improve women’s lives on the job, in their unions and in their communities. Oretha Tarnue, vice...
Domestic Workers and Socioeconomic Rights: A South African Case Study (2013)
This report explores the challenges of empowering domestic workers in South Africa through the traditional trade union focus on worker rights, democratic voice and collective action. This Solidarity Center report is part of a multiyear research project, funded by the...
Domestic Workers Receive Human Rights Award
At least 50 domestic workers from seven countries marched into the main hall at the AFL-CIO quadrennial convention in Los Angeles Sunday, singing their signature song, to accept the George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka...
Domestic Workers Worldwide Now Covered by Labor Law
Beginning today, millions of domestic workers worldwide have basic labor rights, as the International Labor Organization (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention officially comes into force. When it passed in June 2011, Convention 189 marked a major milestone, signaling the...
DOMESTIC WORKERS: Winning Recognition and Protection (2013)
Many domestic workers around the world are vulnerable to exploitation and not recognized by national labor laws. But in the Dominican Republic, domestic workers have campaigned to make gains over the last two decades—and a new Solidarity Center report shows how....
Dominican Republic: Domestic Workers Struggle for Rights
Workers this week are marking the second anniversary of the historic passage of a global standard covering the rights of domestic workers. The International Labor Organization (ILO) “Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) covers written employment...
Kenya: Court Rules Employment Law Covers Domestic Workers
Employers in Kenya now must abide by the verbal contracts they make with domestic workers, following a landmark ruling by the nation’s high court that also effectively places domestic workers under Kenya’s employment law. Saying that under the Employment Act, “a...
Colombia: Afro-Descendant Domestic Workers Form Union
Afro-Colombian women recently launched the Union of Domestic Service Workers (Unión de Trabajadoras del Servicio Domestíco, UTRASD), the first-ever union in Colombia created entirely by Afro-descendent women. UTRASD President Maria Roa Borja says she hopes to increase...
AFL-CIO Gives Human Rights Award to Domestic Workers Network
The AFL-CIO will give the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) the 2013 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. The IDWN, a Solidarity Center partner, brings together domestic workers from around the world, building bridges between unions and domestic...
DOMESTIC WORKERS: Winning Recognition and Protection, Sources (2013)
The primary sources for this publication were first-person interviews conducted by the Solidarity Center in 2012. Additional sources are noted below. Coloring the Nation: Race and Ethnicity in the Dominican Republic, by David Howard. “Dominican Republic,” Library of...
South African Fights for a New Generation of Domestic Workers
Gladys Mnyengeza has been a domestic worker in Cape Town, South Africa, for about 40 years—and knows full well the problems and rewards that come with a job traditionally undervalued and performed by workers at the margins of society. Her experience has made her a...
South Africa Domestic Workers Hold First-Ever National Meeting
Dozens of leaders of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) gathered recently in Cape Town in a first-ever national conference to plan organizing and advocacy goals. “Our vision remains to help domestic workers demand their rights,” said...
South Africa Domestic Workers Strategize with U.S. Counterparts
Clapping and singing “women must be praised,” a traditional South African protest song from the years of apartheid oppression, eight domestic workers from South Africa gathered with their American sisters and brothers from the United Domestic Workers of America...
Victory for Domestic Workers as Philippines Ratifies C189
In a victory for domestic workers in the Philippines and around the world who are trying to secure decent wages, benefits and recognition, the Philippines is the second country to ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189, Decent Work for Domestic...
New Laws Would Grant Social Protections to 300,000 Dominican Domestic Workers
Two groundbreaking pieces of legislation are poised to bring 300,000 domestic workers in the Dominican Republic into the national social security system, providing them for the first time with a minimum wage, health care, pension, and other social protections to which...
International Domestic Workers Day
A year after the adoption of International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189, Decent Work for Domestic Workers, domestic workers declared June 16 International Domestic Workers Day. Domestic workers worldwide celebrated this historic victory. The Solidarity...
Experts: Domestic Violence a Societal Hazard for Informal Workers
Informal workers are routinely excluded from economic and political decision-making, and their work is systematically devalued and made invisible. The COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified these dynamics and has resulted in skyrocketing rates of domestic violence,...
UKRAINE: DOMESTIC WORKER SURVEY DOCUMENTS PERILS OF INFORMAL STATUS
A new survey—the first in Ukraine to evaluate domestic workers’ working conditions—found that working without contracts and formal recognition has left most survey respondents victim to low pay, wage theft, confusion about employment status, exclusion from the...
Podcast: Workers Speak Out: Unions Are Essential for Democracy
Workers from around the world, including those exiled from Belarus, Eswatini and Myanmar for forming unions, striking and trying to speak freely, describe why democracy is important—and why unions are key to democracy—in a special episode of The Solidarity Center...