domestic workers: decent work for all â south africa - Solidar

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An Africa Regional Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27-28 November 2009 was co-facilitated by Myrtle Witbooi and Hester Stephens of SADSAWU, among others. The workshop aimed to: • Enable participants to learn from each other by sharing experiences of organising domestic workers and the legal/organising context in which they operate; • Develop an understanding of the IDWN and share ideas on the way forward; • Strengthen solidarity and networking amongst domestic workers unions/organisations in Africa; and • Understand the ILO process towards an ILO Convention on domestic work. A similar Asia Regional Workshop, led by Myrtle Witbooi, was held in Hong Kong in mid- December 2009. ―Decent work for domestic workers‖ was the rallying point for celebrations organised by SADSAWU on Thursday, 10 December 2009. The event, held at Community House in Salt River, Cape Town, coincided with the United Nations Human Rights Day and International Migrants Rights Day – the day set aside to reinforce the universality of human rights and the need to shield migrants from abuse and exploitation. 58 Through these and other activities the experience and resources of SADSAWU have been invested to a significant extent in the campaign for an ILO Convention on domestic work. Although it is well aware that the adoption of a Convention will not automatically change conditions on the ground and that the real struggle will be to ensure the implementation of such a Convention, it would nevertheless set an important new benchmark and mark a step forward to which SADSAWU is committed. 5. Recommendations There is only so much that the law can do to change conditions on the ground; most labour lawyers would agree that the issue is not so much the letter of the law as its implementation. Having said that, it remains important that the law should create the best possible framework for supporting the action that is needed to transform the lives of domestic workers. South African legislation already incorporates many of the rights and objectives which are envisaged in the campaign for an ILO Convention on domestic work. However, there are some problem areas where the existing law forms a barrier to change or has shortcomings which need to be addressed. Within the space of the present paper only a few of the most important problems can be noted. • The LRA’s provisions for trade unions’ organisational rights 59 are geared mainly to the position of ―standard employees‖ in larger formal workplaces. Trade unions and other interested organisations should launch a project to develop a model of organisation and collective bargaining 60 appropriate to the domestic worker sector, drawing on experience gained elsewhere – for example, in the agricultural sector 61 and internationally. 62 The support of the Department of Labour should be sought for such an initiative and any amendments to the LRA that may be necessary. • Domestic work continues to be regarded as uniformly unskilled – reflected, for example, in a single (low) minimum wage in SD7 for all domestic workers. The empowerment of domestic workers will not be complete without enabling them to improve their skills 63 and, importantly, recognising those skills by means of appropriate wage differentials. This could be promoted by re-launching the Domestic Workers 58 Ray Mungoshi (2009) ―Women of Worth‖: The SADSAWU lobbying call for the ILO Domestic Workers’ Convention. Media Report covering the event. 59 Sections 11-21, LRA. 60 For example, structured participation by domestic workers’ unions and employers’ representatives in annual revisions of SD7 would be one possible way of laying a basis for wage bargaining in this sector. 61 See Mazibuko K. Jara Monitoring Compliance with the Sectoral Determination for Farm Workers in 5 Western Cape Farming Districts: Report of an Exploratory Study Women on Farms Project (2006). 62 See ILO report pars 265-297. 63 See, for example, ILO Report par 301. GLOBAL NETWORK 12
Skills Development Project on a national scale and laying down differentiated wage scales, linked to skills levels, in SD7. • The CCMA has been highly successful as a dispute resolution centre and a mechanism for enforcing the rights of organised workers in particular. Domestic workers, however, are seldom in a position to launch formal proceedings against their employers. The CCMA and Department of Labour should support a study by trade unions and support organisations of alternative models of dispute resolution centres that would be accessible to domestic workers – in particular, to provide them with advice and mediate disputes. 64 • Cross-border migration, also by large numbers of domestic workers, has become a reality which the existing legal framework is completely unable to regulate. The Immigration Act makes it virtually impossible for a non-South African domestic worker to obtain a work permit, with the result that such workers are to a large extent ―undocumented‖ and vulnerable to abuse. Research and policy initiatives are needed to address the issue with a view to regulating cross-border migration rather than trying to prevent it. Proposals by the African Union in this regard should be studied; in particular, the proposal for ―regional labour exchanges aimed at facilitating the employment of available human resources of one Member State in other Member States where there are shortages of skilled labour‖ 65 should be broadened to take account of the reality that many migrants are formally ―unskilled‖. In addition, special attention should be paid to a number of proposals contained in the ILO Report as to the content of the instrument(s) to be adopted – in particular, the issues reflected in questions 18, 19, 21, 22, 26 and 31 relating to the content of a possible Convention and questions 35, 36, 39, 43, 47, 51, 53 and 55 relating to the content of a possible Recommendation. The adoption of a Convention providing for the necessary flexibility in its implementation is important because it would oblige ratifying member states to extend special legal protection to domestic workers – a process that could transform the perception of domestic work and boost the self- confidence of domestic workers world-wide. In addition, a Recommendation would serve the important purpose of providing Member States with practical guidelines in this relatively new and complicated area of employment regulation. Given its relatively developed infrastructure of labour legislation and the experience of SD7, South Africa should be in the forefront not only of campaigning for the adoption of a Convention and a Recommendation, but also in taking the necessary legal and practical measures to give effect to those instruments. 6. References Statutes • Department of Labour, Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 • Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act 32 of 2003. • Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector, South Africa. Books/journal articles/internet sources • Anderson, B (2000). A foot in the door: The social organisation of paid domestic work in Europe. Doing the dirty work? The global politics of domestic labour. • CBC News ―Greying workforce could mean labour shortages: Statistics Canada‖ 11 February 2003; available at http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2003/02/11/workforce_030211.html. 64 See, for example, the Domestic Service Tribunal of Buenos Aires: ILO Report par 256. 65 African Union Draft Strategic Framework for a Policy on Migration in Africa (undated) p 10; available at http://www.africa-union.org/Social%20Affairs/labour/LSC-6- AU%20Migration%20policy%20revised%20BY%20Consultant.PDF GLOBAL NETWORK 13
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domestic workers: decent work for all â south africa - Solidar