Domestic Work is Work: Statement of the United Domestic Workers of the Philippines for the 10th National Domestic Workers Day

Domestic and care work are essential parts of our daily lives. Without the people (mostly women) that cook, clean, prepare, as well as care for children and the elderly even before the start of the workday, it would simply be impossible for modern society to function. Yet, despite the vital role of domestic work and other forms of reproductive labor, they are widely underappreciated and undervalued. In fact, domestic workers are among the most exploited and vulnerable in most societies.

Today, as we celebrate the 10th national domestic worker’s day, the United Domestic Workers of the Philippines (UNITED) asserts the dignity and importance of domestic work and workers. To this end, we call for the full recognition of the vital role that we play in the Philippines and in the many destination countries where we work through the establishment as well as effective implementation of mechanisms to protect our rights as working people.

UNITED calls for a full review of the batas kasambahay. More than a decade since its passage, the effectiveness of the law in protecting domestic workers must be scrutinized. Specifically, we must know to what extent domestic workers have been able to access its full protection – ranging from the payment of social security benefits to just compensation and dignified working and living conditions.

Second, we call on the Philippine government to ratify the International Labor Organization’s Convention 190 (ILO 190) regarding violence and harassment in the world of work. Given the vulnerability faced by many domestic workers to various forms of sexual violence, the implementation of the convention and its accompanying recommendation will provide domestic workers with various instruments, resources, and spaces to address cases of abuse, as well as proactively prevent such incidents in the future.

UNITED continues to tirelessly organize all domestic workers. We believe that there can be no true progress if we do not include the millions of mostly women who are responsible for providing the reproductive labor necessary to make economic and social activity possible. Long live our care workers! Recognize and protect domestic work!

Organized labor welcomes launching of ‘kasambahay’ federation

LOCAL domestic workers or kasambahays have bonded together by launching the federation United Domestic Workers of the Philippines (UNITED) to ensure that their rights are followed and that they have humane working conditions, which are all stipulated in two landmark laws passed by the government in the past three years.

Almost 200 kasambahays formally established the UNITED in its founding assembly held today at the Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, which was highlighted by the ratification of their Constitution and by-laws as well as the election and induction of the federation officers.

The founding delegates came from four area association chapters – Murphy, Sitio Veterans, Payatas and Roxas District, all in Quezon City – that were organized first as a quasi-cooperative that encourages members to regularly allocate a portion of their salary to save in a bank.

Though not yet a full-fledged trade union, UNITED could be considered a milestone in the efforts to organize all types of workers, including those in the informal sector that are not only highly scattered but mostly work as contractuals or have occasional jobs, the national labor center Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), said.

“Newly organized workers, whether in unions or associations or cooperatives, are always a cause for celebration, more so if they come from a sector long known or deemed as ‘unorganizable,’” SENTRO added.

Further motivating the organizing of the kasambahays was when the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 189 (C189) or the “Decent Work for Domestic Workers” was signed by Malacañang on May 18, 2012 and approved by the Senate on the following Aug. 6, making the Philippines the second country in the world – after Uruguay in June that year – to ratify this groundbreaking social legislation.

Adopted during the ILO’s 100th International Conference last June 16, 2012, the C189 and its supplementary Recommendation 201 (R201) finally and formally recognized the rights of all domestic workers by formulating a new global standard for protecting them, especially the migrant domestic workers or those who work abroad.

C189’s “local counterpart” followed soon, when the different “kasambahay bills” of the Senate and House of Representatives were consolidated in Nov. 2012 and enacted into law when Malacañang signed it on Jan. 18, 2013 as the Republic Act (RA) No. 10361 or “An Act Instituting Policies for the Protection and Welfare of Domestic Workers.”

Commonly called “Kasambahay Law,” RA 10361 intends to provide basic labor rights and legal protection to almost 2 million domestic workers in the country or those working in private households as all-around househelp, children’s nanny or yaya, nurse-maid or sort of a caregiver to elderlies, cook, gardener, laundryperson, cleaner, errand boy/girl, etc.

Government data show that the country’s domestic workers (DWs) have grown from 1.2 million in 2001 to about 1.9 million in 2010. Likewise, it is believed that an overwhelming majority of them are women or young girls.

According to the ILO report “Domestic workers across the world” released in Jan. 2013, most of the DWs in the Philippines are “overworked and underpaid.” In 2010, they work an average of 52 hours a week, the 7th longest among 39 countries surveyed by the ILO, and “higher than the globally accepted statutory limits on working time of 40 and 48 hours a week.”

Majority of the kasambahays are also poorly paid with a national average equal to merely “43.8 percent of the average incomes of the country’s total paid workers,” placing the Philippines to No. 11 among 22 surveyed countries with the widest wage gap for domestic workers.

Aside from hard work, low salaries and virtually zero benefits, many kasambahays also suffer from various forms of maltreatment, including verbal abuse, physical violence and sexual assaults.

As early as 2013, the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), while lauding the passage of C189 and RA 10361, has stated that to guarantee their full implementation and to raise further the rights of the kasambahays, they must eventually organize into associations or unions.

The domestic workers’ organizations should of course be integrated sooner or later into the mainstream trade union or labor movement, added the APL, a SENTRO member.