Treaty on domestic workers ratified

PRESIDENT Benigno S. C. Aquino III has ratified an International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention protecting rights of domestic workers.

“I have the honor to submit, for the Senate’s consideration and concurrence, ILO Convention 189 (Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers),” Mr. Aquino said in a letter to the Senate dated May 18.

Following the President’s transmittal of the convention to the Senate, the foreign relations committee is set to conduct hearings on it in preparation for concurrence or ratification of the treaty.

The Constitution states that no treaty or convention will be valid and effective until concurred with by two-thirds of the Senate.

“The Convention sets the standards for decent work for domestic workers and provides them with the same protection, respect and dignity accorded to other workers,” Mr. Aquino said.

He added that the Labor department and Tripartite Industrial Peace Council both agreed with the ratification of the Convention.

The ILO Convention 189 mandates concurring states to enact measures ensuring “the effective promotion and protection of the human rights” of all house help.

The Convention, likewise, requires laws institutionalizing the rights at work of domestic workers, specifically:

• freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

• elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor;

• abolition of child labor; and

• elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, among others.

The ILO Convention 189 was adopted by the General Conference of the ILO in 2011. Senate Bill 78, a proposed measure protecting domestic workers’ rights by ensuring fair compensation and working hours, was approved at the Senate last Dec. 12, 2011. A counterpart measure is pending third reading approval at the House of Representatives. — Antonio Siegfrid O. Alegado, Businessworld