Novelita Palisoc became a domestic worker to support her family in the Philippines. She now is president of a local union affiliated with the International Domestic Workers’ Federation, a global organization of half a million domestic workers.
When the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act were enacted in the 1930s, both excluded domestic workers.
Only 25 countries have ratified ILO convention 189 that declares domestic workers should enjoy the same rights as other workers. Nonetheless, important advances in their struggle have been made world-wide.
Crackdown in China, German Greens Surprise Vote, Domestic Workers to Congregate in Cape Town, UK Demos Hit Brexit and Fascists, Chile National Strike, Migrants Fill Rome Streets
The potential effects of an anti-union ruling in Janus v. AFSCME could already be on display in Orange County, where a right-to-work group scored a win involving orientations for new in-home health care aides.
Domestic workers and farmworker women join forces to end sexual violence in their industries, leaving no one behind.
Here are two pieces about challenges facing worker organizing in Middle East! Informal networks of self-help and mutual care have given rise to a workers-led alliance in Lebanon to fight for rights of domestic workers. In EI article, Al-Austath, who heads the Palestinian Federation of Garment Industries, argues that Israel has a deliberate policy of preventing Gaza from nurturing its own industries. “They hate us because we work hard and build our country,” he said.
There is a specific set of behaviors that constitute gender-based violence at work that includes sexual violence, verbal abuse, threats of violence and bullying. A meeting in Brazil sponsored by the International Trade Union Confederation and the Solidarity Center discussed a campaign to shape a worker-driven International Labor Organization standard ending gender-based violence at work, based about successful initiatives by local worker organizations.
Worldwide, 90 percent of domestic workers—the vast majority of whom are women—do not have access to any kind of social security coverage, according to the International Labour Organization. In the United States, an estimated 95 percent of domestic workers are female, foreign born and/ or persons of color. They frequently lack protections and face near constant adversity.
Based on 501 randomly-dialed phone surveys throughout the state, this study provides demographic and household details, as well as an understanding of the employment practices and needs of domestic employers.
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