Many loopholes in domestic work regulation still persist in Europe despite recent progress

An important amount of domestic workers in Europe do not receive the same legal protection as other workers. Although there has been significant legislative progress in this direction, this working activity is quiet often not considered as a real work.

According to the indications of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the official figures on domestic work do not reflect the true extent of the sector which in many cases falls within the informal economy and which can sometimes be linked to situations of discrimination and labour exploitation. For instance, in the case of Germany, the data provided by the official statistical office show that there are around 700,000 domestic workers in the country, while local unions indicate that approximately 2,400,000 million German households hire this type of work.

Member states have implemented various measures to facilitate legal employment in the sector. In Belgium, for example, a titre service system allows domestic workers to carry out a formal labour activity while the cost for the employer is shared in part by the state through subsidies.

In this context, the ILO’s Convention 189 on Decent Work for domestic workers which will enter info force in a year’s time, provides that domestic workers who care for the welfare of families and households must enjoy the same labour basic rights than other workers, such as the reasonable duration of working days or weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours. The proportion of in kind payment must also be limited, working terms and conditions must be clear and the respect for fundamental rights and principles must be observed at all times. –http://euroalert.net/en/news.aspx?idn=15955