NEW YORK: Laws are needed “urgently” to give greater protection to domestic workers, the International Labour Organisation has said, British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday.
It estimates that only about 10 per cent of all domestic workers — about 5.3 million people — are covered by labour laws to the same degree as other workers.
About 30 per cent have no legal protection at all, the report said.
The ILO said there were a total of 52.6 million domestic workers around the world at the end of 2010.
“Exclusion and partial coverage result in weaker protection for domestic workers in a number of important areas, including key working conditions provisions,” said the report, titled Domestic Workers Across the World.
It focuses on improvements to working-time regulations, minimum-wage coverage and maternity protection, since more than 80% of all domestic workers are women.
“In all areas, large disparities between domestic workers and other workers become apparent,” the report said.
The report highlights that 45 per cent of domestic workers are not guaranteed any weekly rest period.
Some countries have taken steps to provide equal treatment in this area for all workers. However, most of Asia and the Middle East are yet to mandate that domestic workers are given at least one day off a week.
Phil Robertson, Asia division deputy editor for Human Rights Watch, said that a day off could prove very important.
“What we’ve seen, particularly in cases of migrant domestic workers, is that they are isolated by language and don’t have connections with peers, which means they are more easily exploited,” he said.
“That one day off allows them to form social networks. When one woman doesn’t show up, people in her network follow up on whether there is a problem there.”
ze:9.0pt;line-height:120%;font-family: “Georgia”,”serif”;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia’>They concede that the European Working Time Directive — which limits hours — and the EU budget need reform, adding, “But equally, we must be very careful not to call for a wholesale renegotiation of our EU membership, which would almost certainly be rejected.
“To call for such a move in these circumstances would be to put our membership of the EU at risk and create damaging uncertainty for British business, which are the last things the prime minister would want to do. We need a strong reformed EU with Britain at the heart of it.”
The leaders include Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, which recently moved its headquarters back to London from Dublin, reversing a move it made for tax reasons in 2008.
They warn that £25bn of annual UK tax revenue is estimated to be “vulnerable” if the country secedes from the EU, as it comes from businesses with “mobile activity easily moved out of the UK.”
They describe the EU as the “most powerful trading bloc in the world”, adding that the US is “keen to see a strong UK in a strong Europe, fearing a weaker Britain on the sidelines of a more protectionist EU.”
