An interview with the International Domestic Workers Federation, winner of this year’s Bishop Tji Justice and Peace Award
By Narang
Published: March 18, 2017
Translated by Kang Yieun
The number of domestic workers is estimated
to be 67 million worldwide, 80% of which are women. One in five of these domestic
workers are migrant workers. Domestic workers provide labor services such as housekeeping,
care of children and elderly dependents, and aid for the sick. In many
countries, however, they are not recognized as workers, and often toil in poor work
environments.
Although no official statistics exist, it
is estimated that about 300,000 individuals work as domestic workers in Korea.
Domestic workers in Korea, however, are not protected under the Labor Standards
Act (LSA), as Article 11(1) leaves domestic workers out of its scope.
According to “A Survey on the Condition of the
Human Rights of Domestic Workers in the Informal Sector”, published by the National
Human Rights Commission of Korea in November 2015, domestic workers frequently
could not reach an agreement with their employers about their job description,
breaks, payment for treatment in case of injury, etc.. Workers were also having
difficulties due to sudden firings and late payments.
In January, the National Human Rights
Commission recommended that the Labor Standards Act be applied to domestic
workers. The Commission specified in its “Recommendation on the Protection of Labor
and Social Security Rights of Domestic Workers in the Informal Sector” that the
government should a) redact Article 11(1), which excludes “domestic employees” from
the LSA, b) make
laws that accommodate the characteristics of domestic work, which is not easily
covered by the LSA, and c) ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention
concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
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| From left, acting Asia Pacific Coordinator Peng Choi, titular Asia Pacific executive committee member Phobsuk Gasing, and President Myrtle Witbooi of IDWF, who won the 20th Bishop Tji Justice and Peace Award on March 14. © Ilda |
“The
Labor Standards Act should be applied to domestic workers in Korea”
Founded in 2013, the International Domestic
Workers Federation (IDWF) is a labor union of domestic workers across the
globe. Its founding members numbered 250,000, but the number of members has
doubled over the past five years. By now, 500,000 domestic workers from 47
countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe have joined. The National House Managers
Cooperative is the member organization from Korea.
Your correspondent met the President of
IDWF, Ms. Myrtle Witbooi, and a titular member of the IDWF Asia Pacific executive
committee, Ms. Phobsuk Gasing, on March 14. It was the day IDWF was awarded the
20th Bishop Tji Justice and Peace Award.
(The Bishop Tji Award was established to
honor the deceased [Korean] bishop Tji Haksoon, who devoted his life to the
poor and powerless, such as farmers and workers, while resisting the authoritarian
dictatorship in the 1970s. It is awarded annually to individuals or
organizations dedicated to justice, peace, and human rights.)
Ms. Witbooi was born in Cape Town, South
Africa, in 1947. She became a domestic worker at age 20. Her life is a record
of the South African domestic workers’ movement itself, and also of the international
domestic workers’ movement.
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| The President of IDWF, Myrtle Witbooi © Ilda |
Her first employers, a white household, were
humane, but she had to work 7 days a week and could not leave the house after 6
pm. She could not live with her own family and children, either. Ms. Witbooi
painfully recounted how she had to send her month-old daughter to her own
mother.
In South Africa under apartheid, domestic
workers of color were banned from sea-bathing along with their white employers,
“as if people of color would color the sea wrong.”
Ms. Witbooi started to question the exploitation
of domestic workers. She organized Sunday meetings with neighborhood domestic
workers. Domestic workers who used to belittle themselves as “inferior beings,
who merely clean other people’s house” formed solidarity and pride through
weekly meetings where they talked about their lives as women. Then they further
organized other domestic workers.
This led to the foundation of the South
African Domestic Workers’ Union in 1986. When apartheid ended and a new
government was democratically elected in 1994, a law protecting domestic
workers was introduced as a result of active struggle by domestic workers.
ILO
adopts the Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
Ms. Witbooi also serves as Secretary
General of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union
(SADSAWU). SADSAWU is one of the largest labor unions in South Africa. Domestic
workers are guaranteed a work environment which is nearly the same as that of
other workers.
She also led the formation of the International
Domestic Workers Network, which was a base for the foundation of IDWF in 2013.
She was also a key player who steered the ILO to adopt the Convention
concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers in 2011.
Ms. Phobsuk Gasing, an executive member for
the Asia Pacific Region of IDWF, is a Thai domestic worker in Hong Kong. 300,000
domestic workers are working in Hong Kong, half of whom are Indonesian. The
rest are mostly from the Philippines. Most of the domestic workers in Hong
Kong, therefore, are migrants.
Ms. Gasing is also the chairperson of the Hong
Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions. This is a federation of
several domestic workers’ unions formed based on nationalities such as Thai,
Nepali, Filipino, and [mainland] Chinese.
Ms. Witbooi and Ms. Gasing emphasized that
“domestic workers are workers who contribute to the national economy, not a mere
luxury for rich households.” They also expressed shock at Korean domestic
workers not being protected by the Labor Standard Act, and called for the
provision of such legislative protection. Below is a conversation with the two.
Q: What are the main issues IDWF focuses
its activities on these days?
Gasing: We have a campaign called “My Fair
Home,” which is an effort to improve public perception of domestic workers.
This is an international campaign that reaches out to employers in individual households
where domestic workers work, urging them to provide fair work environments and
labor conditions. Even if local law is absent, employers can still put these
practices in place.
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| Dominican domestic workers shouting for domestic workers’ rights on the international Human Rights Day, December 10, 2015. © IDWF |
Q: One in five domestic workers worldwide are
known to be migrant workers. On top of the lack of legal protection of labor
rights, these domestic workers are vulnerable due to their status as migrant
workers. What do you make of it? (Migrant workers are banned from domestic work
in Korea, except for ethnic Koreans such as Korean Chinese.)
Witbooi: Migrant domestic work is one of
the areas IDWF will focus on in the next five years. It is hard to organize migrant
workers to form labor unions because they fear deportation. Filing complaints
against their employers or raising social issues - these activities may get
them deported.
These days, we are supporting activities to
organize migrant domestic workers in Arab and Middle Eastern regions. Arab
regions have the highest number of migrant domestic workers, who are mainly
from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and recently from African
countries. The number reaches 1.6 million, but their human rights conditions are
the most terrible; there is little representation for these workers, either.
One reason migrant domestic workers fall into
poor work environments has to do with intermediary agencies. Many agencies send
inexperienced workers abroad without even a minimum education. So these migrant
domestic workers are not aware of what can be done even when they are extremely
exploited in foreign countries.
Another issue is agent fees. They charge
high fees – which is illegal – so the migrant workers cannot keep much of their
pay after the fees are deducted. Illegal fees force migrant workers into debt.
Agencies confiscate passports and identification documents until the debt is
paid off, restricting personal movement. Recently, two agencies were shut down
for such illegal fees in Hong Kong.
Q: Tell me more about Hong Kong. You also
mentioned that most domestic workers in Hong Kong are migrant workers.
Gasing: Hong Kong law says the fee for an agency
shall be 10% of the first month’s earning. However, there are many agencies
that charge a lot more for a longer period. It is clearly against the law, but
the fine is negligible so the practice has been common.
Last year, migrant domestic workers
themselves interviewed other domestic workers about these illegal fees, which
resulted in a report last October. The report attracted much attention from the
Hong Kong government and journalists. The Labor Department of Hong Kong later
set regulations on agencies. Under these regulations, the agencies located in
Hong Kong not only should stay away from illegal practices, they also can lose
their license if caught doing business with foreign agencies involved in illegal
practices. The government also plans to amend the law to increase the fine.
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| Domestic workers in Hong Kong on a May Day march last year. © IDWF |
Q: ILO adopted the “Convention concerning
Decent Work for Domestic Workers” in 2011. Korean domestic workers are
demanding the government ratify it, but the government keeps postponing the ratification,
citing the need to amend the Labor Standard Act (LSA) first. (23 countries have
ratified this convention so far. The Philippines is the only Asian country that
has.)
Witbooi: ILO was not aware of domestic
workers’ issues for a long time. We campaigned for three years, from 2009 to
2011, to establish international labor standards [for domestic work], which
resulted in the “Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.”
(This convention recommends recognizing
domestic workers as workers, guaranteeing them equal rights as other workers, applying
the same labor laws of the host county to migrant workers, and making labor
contracts in a language migrant workers can understand.)
Ratification of the convention is
important, but it is meaningless without local legislation. There are two ways to
ratify an international convention: one is to prepare the local law and
institutions to the standards of the convention, then ratify it. The other is
to ratify it first, then enact a law within 11 months. Most countries go the
latter route. The problem is that many are not following up with legislation. The
ILO should be monitoring and enforcing the follow-up, but they are not doing it.
South Africa is one country that has not
followed up. South African domestic workers now are guaranteed labor conditions
almost the same as those of other workers, but are not protected by industrial
safety and health codes. To secure workers’ compensation insurance we need
employers to contribution financially, but they are refusing. This is why South
African domestic workers are demanding that the related law be amended.
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| A “Work Like Any Other” campaign postcard. © IDWF |
Q: What do you think of the conditions of
domestic workers in Korea?
Witbooi: The National House Managers
Cooperative is the member organization of IDWF from Korea. We are shocked to learn
that domestic workers in Korea are not covered by the Labor Standards Act. We
wanted to meet Korean lawmakers and government officials in person to urge
improvement in the labor conditions of domestic workers, but unfortunately our
meeting with the Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly got
canceled.
(The day this interview was conducted, March 14, the chairman of the
committee, Assemblyman Hong Young-pyo of the Together Minjoo Party, canceled the
meeting, citing a party workshop.)
It is my understanding that a bill related
to domestic workers was discussed in the National Assembly a year ago. (In the
19th National Assembly, Assemblyman Lee In-young of the Together
Minjoo Party introduced the “Amendment to Redact the Article Which Excludes Domestic
Workers from the Scope of the Labor Standards Act” and the “Bill for Improving Domestic
Worker Employment Practices.” The bills, however, were canceled automatically when
the term ended.) It is imperative that the Korean legislature and government amend
labor laws to protect the labor rights of domestic workers.
Q: You have worked with domestic workers
from all over the world. Any words for domestic workers in Korea?
Gasing: Don’t be afraid to speak up. No one
will hear it unless you speak up. I was worried of losing my contract by bringing
issues up, but now my employer supports my activities.
Witbooi: Stand up and fight for your
rights. Once I start, others will support me for sure.
IDWF home page: idwfed.org
Interpreter: Kang Eunji from Korean House
for International Solidarity.
*Original article: http://ildaro.com/sub_read.html?uid=7806
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