Campaign on the occasion of International Domestic Workers Day - The Government and the National Assembly Should Ratify the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers Provide protection of the law to domestic workers, and a high quality domesti..

Campaign on the occasion of International Domestic Workers Day

The Government and the National Assembly Should Ratify the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers - Provide protection of the law to domestic workers, and a high quality domestic service to the people!

 

On June 7, the German government finally became 2nd in Europe, 8th in the world, 2nd in the OECD countries to ratify the ILO convention concerning decent work for domestic workers. Domestic workers and the civil society organizations participating in the press conference today could not be more envious of the efforts of German government and lawmakers. On the other hand, the ILO report, entitled “domestic workers across the world,” released in January, expressed the concern over poor working conditions of household service workers in Korea. The report pointed out that Korean domestic workers are excluded from the protection of the law, find it difficult to apply for social insurance, and are paid less than the minimum wage. The Korean government voted for the convention concerning decent work for domestic workers at the 100th session of the International Labour Conference, but has not taken any step further.

 

The demand for household services is rapidly increasing due to change in family structure and population aging. Domestic work is outside the legal protection as it is still seen as ‘women’s work’ and ‘a work taking place in the private place.’ The government is supposed to address the problem, but rather takes a passive role in making measures to protect domestic workers on the grounds of the Labor Standard Act that does not recognize domestic workers as workers. The international community has started to implement various legal measures to protect domestic workers, but the Korean government reiterates that Korea has its own peculiarities.

 

On the occasion of International Domestic Workers Day, 300,000 domestic workers and related organizations urge for planning and urgent implementing to give quality jobs and the three basic labor rights to domestic workers by ratifying the ILO convention and revising the Labor Standard Act.

 

First, the Article 11 of the Labor Standard Act ‘Exclusion of Domestic Workers’ that does not recognize domestic workers as workers has to be revised. The article gave rise to the issue of equality in workers of the same care service industry, given the fact that care workers in the public sectors including social services are under the labor contract, protected by the Labor Standard Act and covered by social insurance. Therefore, by fundamentally reforming the Labor Standard Act, all service workers have to get legal protection as a worker.

 

Second, it is urgent for the government to establish a public employment support system for domestic workers. Household services are provided through the job agency in the private sector while employment support is one of the government’s primary responsibilities in the days of unemployment. Domestic workers have to pay a commission to find a job while they have poor living conditions with low wages. Domestic service users are not satisfied because the quality of domestic services is not managed. Therefore, the government has to put more efforts in expanding public non-profit job agencies and promoting non-profit organizations including cooperatives and social enterprises which are employing domestic workers as regular workers.

 

Third, it is top priority for the government to make industrial accident compensation insurance and unemployment insurance available to domestic workers. Domestic workers work and get paid under formal contract of employment, but are not eligible for 4 major social insurance, which is the minimal right of workers. They are not covered by industrial accident compensation insurance when they get injured on the job and are not covered by unemployment insurance when they unexpectedly lose their jobs. Domestic workers are outside the basic social security net such as industrial accident compensation insurance and unemployment insurance and taking the risk of all the accident and unemployment. To tackle the difficulty on the job immediately, the coverage of industrial accident compensation insurance and unemployment insurance should be expanded to include domestic workers. The government also has to take a firm stand on the issue and come up with a measure to protect labor rights of domestic workers.

 

Fourth, by launching a ‘social dialogue mechanism’ with domestic workers, users, and civil and labor groups, the government needs to show its sincerity toward a ratification of the ILO convention on decent work for domestic workers. The expansion of coverage of the Labor Standard Act and the efforts to ratify the ILO convention are precisely the way to reach social consensus. Therefore, we demand that the government should establish a social dialogue mechanism immediately to find ways to satisfy domestic service providers and users.

 

Once again, all participants here today urge for the government and the National Assembly to put more efforts for legal protection of domestic workers and convenience of household service users.

 

- The Korean government and the National Assembly must ratify the ILO Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers!

- Revise the Labor Standard Act’s article that excludes domestic workers

- The government must launch a public employment system for domestic workers!

 

June 12, 2013

Korean Care workers NGO Network