16.06.2015
Call for Justice for All Domestic Workers!
We celebrate International Domestic Workers day, recognising the
significant contribution of domestic workers to the global economy and to
everyone's lives.
We must unite on this workers day in international solidarity to
demand human and labour rights and justice for all women and men who perform
domestic work.
Domestic workers are
situated in structural inequality within the global neoliberal political
economy; the local economy and households
Around the world neoliberal agendas have led to a growth in
inequality. The human cost of structural adjustment programmes imposed in
developing countries has been harsh - from budget cuts to privatisation
policies aimed at reducing the role of the state and the deregulation of the
market to open the local economy to global competition and foreign investment.
There has been a shift from an informal sector to an informal economy with more
precarious exploitative and unprotected forms of jobs and a decline in wages. It
is in context in which women and men contemplate migrating to work overseas.
We call for an end to migrants being forced into low-wage domestic
work by challenging the unjust conditions and policies that deny them a
meaningful ‘choice’.
Everyone is thinking of
going overseas because of poverty [inequality - no redistribution], to find a
good job that will be enough for the family, especially
with the increasing cost of living with privatization.
I went overseas to work because of
a problem with my husband.
The problem here in our
country is a lack of jobs and the salary is much higher in other countries.
For someone like me who
could not finish studying I cannot work in an office only as a domestic worker
or factory worker. I really want to be a teacher.
Kanlungan has found 60 to 70% of domestic workers are either college
graduates or tertiary educated. Despite their education these women were forced
into underemployment as domestic workers.
If I could choose a job, I
would want a better job like simple office work as a secretary or a job that
will make you known and rise up in a position more. I would like to serve in
the government in order to help the poor.
Overseas job opportunities are highly gendered with women migrant
workers only being offered employment in low-wage ‘feminised work’ such as
domestic work, caregiving, entertainment sectors and nursing.
All domestic workers in a Kanlungan survey said NO - they would not
want their daughter to be employed in domestic work.
Some workers are denied the opportunity to migrate due to lack of
resources.
The Philippine government's aggressive labour export policy,
especially of domestic workers leads to the promotion of cheap labour to
compete with other sending countries. There are contradictory policies between
regulating labour migration whilst at the same time targeting a 1 million
deployment per year. The government promotes domestic work by creating and
marketing the concept of ‘super maids’ and ‘world-class domestic workers’.
We recognise reduced levels of state public accountability for
family under neoliberal regimes in some countries and gender inequalities in
families has led to a greater demand for the labour of domestic workers without
subsequent recognition of its value.
Decent work and dignity for
all domestic workers worldwide
We are one with migrant domestic workers who suffer injustices in
the workplace:
No freedom, you are always
incarcerated- you must be free to do what you want.
No proper wages, rape, 24/7 work,
physical abuse, not enough food, not enough rest especially in the evening and
not having a weekly day off; being viewed and treated as lowly, stupid or a
slave; cannot protect themselves from abuse or exploitation without further
threat of violence or loss of job and being sent home; sometimes being framed
up, accused of stealing; not having their own sleeping quarters or room; and
the high cost of placement fee.
We recognise some domestic workers have a positive migrant
experience based on suwerte suwerte lang -
luck, through the random encounter with a ‘kind’ employer, rather than
recognition of their entitlement to labour rights in the workplace.
We condemn the expectation that domestic workers ‘perform’ a
subordinated role, which makes them particularly susceptible to violent abuse.
Many are subject to control and surveillance practices by their employer and
recruitment agents; some end up in forced labour situations. Stigmatizing
societal and state stereotypes, derogative labels and the commoditised
marketing by some recruitment agencies, shapes the inhumane treatment of
migrant domestic workers.
We call for an end to so-called ‘protection’ for women domestic
workers being conflated with confinement to oppress in some workplaces,
training centres and shelters. This gendered system of control has led to
social exclusion and created unsafe living conditions for women migrant workers
where physical and sexual violence occurs.
There must be rights-based gender sensitive social protection for
domestic workers.
We recognise the wider structures of
inequality and lack of resources that impact upon the domestic workers’ ability
to claim rights and call for their transformation.
In keeping with the neoliberal agendas of
privatization, states have created the conditions for private actors including
employers to control low-wage migrant domestic workers. Exclusion of domestic
work from labour laws; the impunity of recruitment agents and employers; lack
of enabling conditions for access to justice; gender inequality and resistance
by states to commit and comply with international instruments to protect the
rights of migrants workers: All are significant in creating structural
conditions for exploitation and abuse of migrant domestic workers.
Participation of domestic
workers is the foundation upon which justice for domestic workers must be built
Now is the time to unite and show solidarity
with domestic workers - to move beyond treating domestic workers as the
‘subject’ and paying lip service to their empowerment.
Let us end the culture of consultation: domestic
workers must be central in all stages of policy-making and importantly the
framing of their struggle. There must be direct capacity building rather than a
hierarchical chain with no real evidence of transfer to the migrant workers
themselves.
We must be vigilant against the growth in
neoliberal ‘technical advocacy’ with its professionalization of advocacy where
trained ‘experts’ speak for domestic workers. This reinforces their
subordination and adds another layer to the ‘migration industry’.
Now is the time is build the direct
collective bargaining power of domestic workers in trade unions and
associations.
We must build and strengthen the commitment
to a grassroots movement to: forge solidarity; ensure activist thinking from
the position of the disadvantaged; to ensure framing and mobilisation is based
upon what domestic workers want; to improve their situation and emancipate
them.
As with any movement, those affected must
speak for themselves.
We call for solidarity with migrant domestic workers by:
§ Recognising domestic work as work
§ Building and supporting solidarity between domestic workers
§ Ensuring migrant workers are well represented in conferences on
their situation.
§ Strengthening labour and women’s movements support for the domestic
workers’ struggle.
§ Ending human and labour rights violations of migrant domestic
workers and demanding rights-based gender sensitive social protection
§ Challenging the dominance of neoliberal policies and inequalities in
the global political economy and migrant management approaches that limit
social and gender justice.
§ Calling for the ratification and compliance with the ILO Domestic
Workers Convention, 2011 (C189); the UN International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
and the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW).
Justice for all domestic workers!Domestic Workers Unite!
77
K-10 Street, East Kamias, Quezon City
Philippines
Website:
www.kanlungan.org
Email:
kanlungan2008@gmail.com
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