Still no recognition for domestic workers

THE EDITOR: At the last international labour conference on June 13, the almost invisible Minister of Labour Stephen Mc Clashie said, “…there are a number of policies and legislation which currently address non-discrimination and social inclusion in TT, and just to name a few they include: the Equal Opportunity Act, a National Policy on Persons with Disabilities, the Maternity Protection Act and the National Insurance Act.”

So, according to the minister, his government is addressing the issues of non-discrimination and social inclusion. Sounds fine and dandy, doesn’t it? Domestic employees and members of the National Union of Domestic Employees (NUDE) may be astonished at this statement.

In 2011, the Government, represented by then labour minister Errol McLeod, ratified Convention 189 at the international labour conference which called for the removal of discrimination against domestic employees.

According to the law governing industrial relations in this country, domestic workers are not defined as workers and are excluded from the remedies available to other workers under the law.

These workers cannot seek remedy under the Industrial Relations Act (IRA), the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act or the Occupational Safety and Health Act. They are therefore subject to the most grievous exploitation imaginable. Even though the law provides for them to be covered under the National Insurance Act, very few employers obey the law.

Domestic workers include housekeepers, cooks, cleaners, ironers, gardeners, handymen, watchmen in private homes. Estimates indicate that there may be as many as 10,000 domestic workers in the country.

NUDE, led by Ida LeBlanc, was a leading organisation in campaigning for the adoption in TT of the convention which was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2011. It is called Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers.

The government needed to bring legislation to Parliament to amend the labour laws so that domestic workers would come under its protection. That was 12 years ago and the government reneged on its commitment and refused to enact legislation. Neither the People’s Partnership nor the PNM has done what is necessary.

As far back as July 26, 2011, NUDE wrote then labour minister McLeod calling for the speedy ratification of Convention 189. McLeod ignored it, as have Jennifer Baptiste and Stephen Mc Clashie after him.

There is a committee made up of business, labour and government called the ILO 144 Tripartite Consultative Committee which was established by Cabinet in May 1996. This committee was set up to fulfil the requirements of ILO Convention No 144 on tripartite consultations (international labour standards), 1976, which was ratified by TT in 1995.

Ratification of Convention 189 was first considered by this committee during its 2012-2014 term. The committee unanimously agreed to recommend ratification to the minister. It proposed that the IRA be amended to include “domestic workers” in the definition of “worker” under the act.

The committee also proposed that the authorities should conduct a national study on the domestic worker industry so that the measures taken to give effect to Convention 189 would be relevant and appropriate.

It called for the finalisation of the draft domestic workers order and for inclusion of the protection of domestic workers in the amendment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and that measures be considered through which domestic workers would be able to seek redress under the National Insurance Act.

Remember these recommendations were first made in 2012. In September 2020, eight years later, the committee was still calling for the same recommendations made in 2012 to be adopted. Three years later they still have not been adopted.

It looks like poor people really born to ketch dey nenen oui!

GERRY KANGALEE

via e-mail