Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Domestic workers seek better deal

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 2. Steps should be taken to ensure the job and social security of domestic workers and their safety at workplaces, a conference of domestic workers organised by the Kerala Domestic Workers' Movement, a unit of the Mumbai-based National Domestic Workers' Movement (NDWM) said.

The district unit of the NDWM got together in the city on Sunday to celebrate the World Labour Day, raising the slogan `Domestic workers for a new work culture'.

Inaugurating the conference, the Labour Secretary, Elias George, said that measures were being taken to organise domestic workers and to ensure that they enjoyed the same benefits as the workers in the organised sectors. He said the steps taken by the Karnataka Government to implement minimum wages rules for domestic workers were very much welcome. He congratulated Sally Michael and others who had helped get together the Kerala Domestic Workers' Movement.

Women domestic workers in the State were up against discrimination and neglect at the hands of their employers and there were no laws to protect them from exploitation or to recognise their work as service, Ms. Michael said.There was much disparity in the service conditions of domestic workers at present, for there were women who were being paid Rs. 2 and also those who were being paid Rs. 10 for every hour of work that they put in. Proper pay and service conditions for domestic workers should be the first step towards streamlining this employment sector, she pointed out.

Speakers also pointed out that even established trade unions had chosen to turn a blind eye towards the domestic labour sector. Trade unions should strive towards raising the dignity of labour in this sector and towards securing equal pay for the women employed in the sector, it was pointed out.

The unorganised sector and sectors where women have employment opportunities were under threat in the onslaught of globalisation and privatisation. In such a situation, it was imperative that domestic labour was developed as a service sector where women could enjoy minimum wages and job security, Fr. Eugene Perreira, of Trivandrum Social Service Society, who chaired the conference, said.

Speakers also pointed out that changing Governments had not paid any attention to improving the lot of domestic workers. It would not be long before domestic labour was recognised as a service industry and was given the due respectability. However, it was up to those employed in the sector to join their hands to focus the attention of the public and the Government towards their problems, speakers said.

`Kilikkoodu', a theatre group, presented a play on the occasion, portraying the plight of domestic workers.

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