Draft domestic workers’ document developed

December 14, 2009, Quezon City — Some 25 youth, women and informal workers, union organizers and activists from three (3) trade union organizations (TUCP, FFW and APL), Informal Sector Coalition of the Philippines (ISP) and Youth for Empowerment and Solidarity (YES) and local unions with domestic workers segments in Luzon and selected regions in Visayas (Cebu) and Mindanao (Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City) participated in the two-day National Consultation and Workshop on Decent Work for Domestic Workers on December 12-13, 2009 in Manila.

The program highlighted discussions on the ILO standards setting process and promotion of standards for domestic workers, progress in the proposed ILO instrument on decent work for domestic workers and the Philippine campaign on decent work, household domestic workers rights and advocacy in CEDAW and the Philippine Workers’ Response to the ILO Questionnaire on the proposed international instrument for domestic workers.

The participants discussed in groups their experiences with and the situation of domestic workers, their advocacies and campaigns. Using these actual and on-the-ground experiences with engaging and servicing domestic workers, the participants designed a survey instrument to look into the conditions of life and work of domestic workers.

The instrument is divided into five major areas: working and living conditions (which includes social security, occupational safety and health), compensation and benefits, recruitment and training, documentation and repatriation, and grievance and mechanisms. The instrument was pretested among participants for initial validation.

The program was sponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. TUCP coordinated the program.

International Labor Organization (ILO)-SRO Manila Ana Liza Valencia, Visayan Forum Foundation Inc., (VF) Jerome Alcantara, Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Julius Cainglet, DAWN-TUCP Florencia Cabatingan, and TUCP Rafael Mapalo and Anna Lee Fos served as resource persons.