Tuesday 25 January 2011

Other positive news on domestic workers around Asia

Karnataka Domestic Workers’ Movement members marched through the streets of Bangalore on January 8 and presented a memorandum of demands to the labour minister. Protesters wore aprons with the message “domestic workers are workers”. Their demands include one day off a week, recognition of domestic work under the unorganised sector, formation of a separate welfare board of domestic workers, compulsory enrolment of all domestic workers with the labour department, and inclusion of domestic workers under the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill. (from WSWS.org)

A Bangladesh delegation put forward demands to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states at a two-day conference beginning Jan 18th in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The demands included extending the tenure of job contracts to five years and setting a minimum wage of $300 for its workers in the Gulf countries. This is important as there is no current minimum wage for migrant domestic workers.

No comments: