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Ratification of ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers printable version

11 Jul 2014: posted by the editor - Ireland

The National Employment Rights Authority has launched a new information booklet for domestic work in Ireland following the Government's decision to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Richard Bruton secured Government approval to ratify the Convention at its meeting on Wednesday. This decision puts Ireland among the small group of ILO member countries who have ratified this Convention. To date, only 14 ILO member countries out of 185 have ratified the Domestic Workers Convention and Ireland will be only the third EU country to ratify.

Minister Bruton said: "The decision to ratify the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers is an important milestone and shows a strong commitment on the part of Ireland to the protection of the rights of domestic workers".

"Ireland already has a strong track record in the area of protecting people involved in domestic work, as shown by the fact that we can ratify this Convention without having to amend our existing suite of employment rights legislation. NERA has undertaken a programme of inspections involving domestic workers, and continues to respond to any complaints received from domestic workers. In addition, the Labour Relations Commission, in conjunction with the social partners, produced a Code of Practice for Protecting Persons Employed in Other People's Homes which recognises the unique circumstances that occur in the domestic work employment relationship".

The Minister said that he was delighted to welcome members of the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland's Domestic Workers Action Group to the Department today to mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers by the launch of a NERA booklet on the employment rights of domestic workers in Ireland.

The Minister concluded by thanking officials from his Department, relevant offices and agencies as well as all the various other stakeholders - including ICTU, IBEC and the MRCI - involved in this process for their work in reaching this conclusion.

The instrument of ratification will be presented shortly to the Director-General of the ILO in Geneva, Mr Guy Ryder.

* A "domestic worker" is defined in ILO Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers as "any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship". Domestic work may involve a range of tasks, including cooking, cleaning a house, washing and ironing laundry, general housework, looking after children, the elderly or persons with disabilities, and maintaining gardens. The Convention requires countries to take measures to ensure that domestic workers, like other workers generally, should enjoy fair terms of employment, and sets out provisions in this regard such as requiring that where the domestic workers reside in the household for which they work, they should enjoy decent living conditions that respect their privacy.

Ireland's existing suite of employment rights legislation is already fully compliant with the provisions of Convention 189. Legally employed domestic workers already enjoy the full protections of Ireland's robust suite of employment rights legislation by virtue of the fact that that all Irish employment rights legislation, including provisions relating to redress for violations of employment rights, apply to domestic workers in the same way as they apply to other categories of employees in Ireland.

The ratification of Convention 189 is an opportunity to raise awareness of the rights of domestic workers, and, to this end, NERA (the National Employment Rights Authority) has prepared a booklet on the employment rights of domestic workers in Ireland which it has launched today to coincide with ratification of the Convention. NERA has carried out a programme of inspections involving domestic workers, and continues to respond to any complaints it receives from domestic workers.

In 2007 a voluntary Code of Practice for Persons Employed in Other People's Homes was developed under the Industrial Relations Act 1990. It was drawn up by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), in conjunction with employers' and employees' representatives, and was adopted by way of Statutory Instrument. The Code sets out certain employment rights and protections for persons employed in other people's homes and encourages good practice and compliance with the law in such employment situations. In any proceedings before a court, or a workplace relations dispute resolution body, the code of practice shall be admissible in evidence and any provision of the code which appears to the court, body or officer concerned to be relevant to any question arising in the proceedings shall be taken into account in determining that question.

Domestic work is a growing sector, in developing as well as in developed countries. ILO's recent estimates refer to a number of 52.6 million domestic workers worldwide in 2010, compared to 33.2 million in 1995. In the Irish context, there is considerable scope for job creation in the Personal Household Services (PHS) sector, and the demand for such services will increase as our population ages.

Tags: National Employment Rights Authority, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention, domestic work

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