Philippines: Department of labour urges partners to support Convention for domestic workers

Philippines Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz urged labor, management, and other stakeholders to support the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in crafting comments and responses to the proposed International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention and Recommendations on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Saudi torture of Lankan maid with 20 nails

By Feizal Samath

The ordeal of a Sri Lankan domestic worker whose Saudi Arabian employer allegedly drove nails and metal wires into her body has sent alarm bells ringing among government officials and activists, but how such abuses can be stopped remain far from clear.

Decent work for domestic workers: A way out of sustainable poverty

By Niña Corpuz

Thirteen-year-old Lica de Guzman sang at the makeshift stage at the Place des Nations, during a gathering to commemorate Domestic Workers’ Rights. De Guzman had a very impressive voice. In fact, she had just signed a contract with Universal Records in London, and her first album will be released later this year. De Guzman’s Filipino parents, Joy and Nicanor, have been working as domestic helpers in Geneva for the past 20 years.

New Zealand failure to ratify ILO domestic workers convention “shameful”

A leading academic has condemned New Zealand’s failure to ratify a proposed International Labour Organisation Convention protecting the rights of domestic workers. Professor Marilyn Waring from the Institute of Public Policy at New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology apologised to a meeting of Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Minister for the decision. Here’s the interview on Radio Australia (Windows media).

Media for Labour Rights Prize 2010 to Nina Corpuz

Kasambahay means “part of the household” in Filipino and this is what domestic workers are called. They have few rights either in their home country or abroad, and many fall victim to abuse by their employers and the agencies that illegaly recruit them. Nina Corpuz investigated the conditions of domestic workers, the phenomenon of human trafficking in the Philippines and the measures taken by the government to prevent it.

99th ILO International Labour Conference: information for the media

The ILO will hold its annual International Labour Conference in Geneva on 2-18 June. Government, worker and employer representatives from the ILO’s 183 member States will discuss a series of topics, including:

The elaboration of a standard on HIV/AIDS in the world of work
Decent work for domestic workers
The strategic objective of employment (follow up on the 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization)
The Application of ILO’s Conventions and Recommendations

Migrant domestic workers’ rights next on ILO’s agenda

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Po Po has been enduring long hours of hard work, poor pay and abuse within the confines of her employer’s home for the past seven years. Poverty forced her to leave her family in eastern Burma and abandon a university education to work as a domestic helper in Thailand. “There is constant uncertainty about a domestic work,” said the 25-year-old in an interview with IPS. “In my last job, I worked for 11 hours a day, but I had to be available for 24 hours if my employer needed me.” Po Po is one of scores of domestic helpers in Thailand who stand to gain from the combined efforts of migrant rights advocates and the International Labor Organization (ILO), a United Nations tripartite body, to raise the profile of domestic workers this year.

Asia, Human rights for migrant domestic workers

As the world marks International Human Rights Day on the 10th of December, CARAM Asia launches an online petition campaign seeking crucial support and commitment from every employer of households to grant a weekly paid day off to their migrant domestic worker (MDW). On this occasion, CARAM Asia, a regional network of 34 NGOs and trade unions across 17 countries in Asia, makes the call to governments across the globe to respect the rights and dignity of migrant workers especially domestic workers.

Philippines: Workers welcome gov’t support for new treaty for domestic workers

Philippines Workers’ Groups are elated over government’s declaration of support for a new International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Domestic Work and the passage of a Magna Carta for Domestic Workers. In her closing remarks at the Second National Domestic Workers Summit held at the Occupational Safety and Health Center in Quezon City last week, Labor and Employment Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz declared government’s “categorical full support” for a new International Convention on Domestic Workers and the Magna Carta for Domestic Workers.

SRI LANKA: Unions strike landmark deal to protect migrant workers

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, May 8 (IPS) – Trade unions from Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait came together with their Sri Lankan counterparts here to strike an unprecedented agreement on the welfare of migrant workers. The Colombo agreement is seen as breaking the tight grip on migrant workers of recruitment agencies here and in recruiting countries.