Domestics of the world launch their federation
World Congress of Domestic Workers
With Barbro Budin
Breaking the invisibility
of domestic work
of domestic work
Domestics of the world launch their federation
The International Federation of Domestic Workers formed this Monday, October 28, in Montevideo, with the vote of 187 representatives from 55 countries, is “a major step towards global acknowledgment of a greatly exploited profession,” Barbro Budin, IUF gender, equality, and projects officer, told La Rel.
“It was a very moving event. It was the first meeting to gather such a large number of women representatives of domestic workers and in which they decided to organize globally on their own and elect a steering committee to represent them,” she highlighted.
Budín underlined the importance of the action plan adopted at the congress, which among other actions includes a global campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 189 (so far ratified by 10 countries, with another four set to do so), advocating equal rights for migrant workers, promoting the implementation of bilateral and multilateral agreements among countries to protect domestic workers and guarantee safe conditions for migrants, preventing human trafficking and sexual exploitation, and efforts to eradicate child labor.
On this last point, Budin noted that “by eradicating child labor we’re also combating extreme poverty, as children (and especially girls, in this case) who work are denied education and cannot develop,” the Swedish representative said.
European contradictions
In her region, Europe, most domestic workers are migrants. They come primarily from countries in the Middle East, from eastern Europe, the Philippines and (especially in the case of Spain) from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Central America.
“The European Union’s attitude towards the ratification of Convention 189 has been disappointing. Most countries believe that adopting it will amount to accepting illegal migration,” she said. So far, only two EU states, Italy and Germany, have ratified it.
“It’s absurd, a contradiction, because demographic trends are pointing to a gradual ageing of Europe’s population. People are needed to take care and assist the elderly and there are not enough European care workers to cover the demand. Without migrants the care system will collapse,” she observed.
Budin said that when it came time at the congress to elect members for the steering committee of the just-formed International Federation of Domestic Workers the Latin American representatives initially opposed the election of “a fellow worker who was not present.”
“They changed their mind when they learned that the candidate was an undocumented migrant who was working in the Netherlands and was unable to travel precisely because she had no papers. This profession has one of the largest migrant workforces, and migrant workers are typically very vulnerable.”
Budin also said she was “greatly impressed” by the “level of organization and work achieved by the IUF Latin American Regional Office and Uruguay’s sole trade union confederation, the PIT-CNT.”
Photo: Rel-UITA