www.domesticworkersunited.org

Founded in 2000, Domestic Workers United [DWU] is an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end exploitation and oppression for all. DWU is a proud founding member of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. DWU and its partners brought their power to bear in 2010 when the nation's first Domestic Workers Bill of Rights was passed in New York.

October 12, 2010

Justice for Domestic Workers on an International Scale


The movement for domestic workers is not limited to New York, or even to the United States. There is an international struggle that is rapidly growing. The National Domestic Worker’s Alliance is taking part in an international movement for justice which came to fruition in November 2006 at an international conference on 'Respect and Rights: Protection for domestic workers!' in Amsterdam, Netherlands. According to the ILO website, “In June 2010, the International Labour Conference at Geneva adopted a resolution calling for the drafting of an international convention and supplementary recommendation to extend labour standards and social protection to the world's domestic workers. The International Labour Office in Asia and the Pacific has been working with our constituents and civil society in anticipation of such a decision and is now preparing for the next ILC (June 2011) where these international instruments could be formally adopted.”

According to the NDWA website, “The National Domestic Worker Alliance is organizing with domestic workers around the world to win a strong ILO Convention with the standards and protections this workforce so desperately needs.” This convention will be a huge step in demanding international recognition and respect for domestic workers.

For more details on NDWA’s campaign, check out their website here

In addition, there are many other countries with strong and active domestic worker’s movements. In India there is the National Domestic Workers Movement

In South Africa there is the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union

In Asia: Asian Domestic Workers Network

In the Carribean: National Union of Domestic Employees

For more information on the international movement, visit http://www.domesticworkerrights.org/.

For more information of the North American national movement, visit http://www.nationaldomesticworkeralliance.org/


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