Domestic Workers

 

Domestic Workers Action Group

The Domestic Workers Action Group (DWAG) was established by MRCI in 2004, to respond to the exploitation and unfair treatment that many domestic workers experience in Ireland. These problems include:

  • pay below the legal minimum hourly rate of pay in Ireland for all the hours worked
  • excessive working hours, sometimes more than 80 hours per week
  • unfair and illegal deductions being taken from workers pay
  • being disrespected, threatened and treated like slaves by their employers
  • being intimidated and fearing the consequences from their employer if they complain.


DWAG Mission: To fight for the rights, dignity and recognition of workers employed in the private home in Ireland.
Members of DWAG have come together to work to improve conditions for domestic workers. DWAG believes that all domestic workers in Ireland have a right to be paid and treated fairly. DWAG has 200 members across the country, mostly migrant women, working in private homes as childminders, cleaners and carers. For more information about the Domestic Workers Action Group contact aoife@mrci.ie. 


DOMESTIC WORKERS ACTION WEEK 2011:
Taking Action for Rights , Dignity and Recognition for Domestic Workers!


The Domestic Workers Action Group is using this Action Week to call for improved conditions and protections for workers employed in private homes:

•Government support for an ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in June 2011
•Protections for domestic workers employed by diplomats
•The Criminalisation of Forced Labour in Ireland



Thursday 28 April: DWAG performance: 'Acting Out for Hope and Change', Project Arts Theatre
This one-night-only theatre performance, ‘Acting Out for Hope and Change’, is scripted and performed by DWAG members and facilitated by Rampant Productions.  These powerful and provocative short dramatisations seeks to highlight issues for migrant women living and working in private homes in Ireland, and calls for improved legislation in this sector. The performance will be followed by post-production Q&A session with the cast and crew and a wine reception.
Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, 8pm (doors open 7.30pm)
Tickets €5, available from Project Arts Centre Box Office, 39 East Essex St, Temple Bar, D2: 01 881 9613 / www.projectartscentre.ie


Thursday 28 April: Workers Memorial Day
Members of DWAG will give a reflection as part of Workers Memorial Day organised by ICTU. For more information see www.ictu.ie.


Sunday 1 May: Trade Union May Day Rally
DWAG members will perform a short drama presentation during the rally.
Meet 11.30am, Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1



 


International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers 2011

Last month, MRCI's Domestic Workers Action Group (DWAG) joined forces with organisations in Ireland and around the world in a global call for action to mobilise support for an ILO Convention for Decent Work and Rights for Domestic Workers. The Convention aims to improve conditions for the millions of women and girls employed in this sector, which has high levels of exploitation. 

NEWS: International Labour Standards for Domestic Workers Adopted!
At the 100th annual Conference of the International Labour Organization on Thursday 16 June, conference delegates  adopted a historic set of international standards aimed at improving the working conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide. The government, worker and employer delegates adopted the Convention on Domestic Workers (2011) by a vote of 396 to 16, with 63 abstentions and the accompanying Recommendation by a vote of 434 to 8, with 42 abstentions.
Read more about the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers.

DWAG, together with Irish Congress of Trade Unions and National Women's Council of Ireland, have called on the Irish Government to commit to ratifying the Convention, which will recognise domestic workers as workers, and afford them the neccessary employment protections.


Campaign Materials:
Watch DWAG members talk about the campaign on DCTV
Download sample letter to Minister for Labour Affairs

For more information:
download Global Call to Action - ILO Convention on Domestic Work
visit www.domesticworkersrights.org

MRCI celebrated the 100th International Women's Day with:
Launch of Campaign for ILO Convention on Domestic Work - 8 March 2011



DWAG Takes Action Against Diplomatic Immunity

DWAG has been actively campaigning for the Government to establish a clear, transparent visa regime for domestic workers employed by diplomats. On Sunday, 28 November members of DWAG gathered in front of the Philippines Embassy to protest against the embassy’s decision not to attend an employment complaint hearing brought by a former employee at the Labour Relations Commission. The employment complaints were brought to the LRC by a Filipina, who was employed by the embassy as a domestic worker between July and December 2009. She claims that her employment rights were violated and, assisted by the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, lodged formal complaints against the embassy under four different acts. See Irish Times coverage of the protest: Embassy's boycott of hearing criticised.

Last year DWAG took to the streets to protest against the decision of the South African Ambassodor to use dimplomatic immunity in an employment case taken by Ukrainian domestic worker, Valentyna Khristonsen. DWAG members and allies protested outside the South African Embassy in Dublin on Wednesday, November 4, to demand ‘Justice for Valentyna' and to demand that she is given her right to due process and to have her complaint heard in court. At the court hearing in the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), South African Ambassodor, Priscilla Jana, used her privelleged dimplomatic status to avoid having Valentyna's employment complaint heard. Because of this, the Rights Commissioner decided he did not have jurisdiction to hear the complaint.

MRCI is aware of several other cases involving allegations of abuse of domestic workers by foreign diplomats. MRCI is calling on Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin TD, to establish a clear, transparent visa regime for domestic employees of diplomats. This must include employment contracts that comply with Irish labour laws



Labour Inspections in the Private Homes

DWAG has been advocating for the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) to begin inspecting employers in the domestic sector to better ensure that the rights of domestic workers who live and work in other people's homes are protected and enforced. Last December NERA announced it was to begin a targeted campaign of inspections of private homes and monitor working conditions of domestic workers.  MRCI has welcomed this decision, which gives formal recognition to the fact that the private home can also be a workplace, and that domestic workers need the full protection of the law and to have their rights monitored and enforced. For more contact NERA. See press release.


Hidden Voices Film Project (2010)

‘Hidden Voices: Stories from behind closed doors' is a series of short documentaries produced by members of DWAG, facilitated by Still Film Productions. These are powerful testimonies from empowered women fighting for the rights and recognition of domestic workers. If you would like to buy the DVD please contact DWAG on 085 710 8954. Price: €5.

To see more of the 6 Hidden Voices films go to MRCI's Youtube channel and select the films from the panel to the right.




DWAG Events


Domestic Workers Action Week, April 26 - May 1 2010
The first Domestic Workers' Action Week received unprecedented support and media attention. We successfully targeted all the main media outlets including features on RTE TV News, the Irish Times and RTE radio's Pat Kenny Show (see links to press coverage below). DWAG activists spoke publically and passionately about the injustices faced by many migrant domestic workers in Ireland, highlighting gaps in legislation that enable workers to be exploited, while also urging the government to establish better protections to regulate and protect workers in private homes across the country. The action week created public awareness about the issues, and we were successful in building allies with politicians and trade unionists, necessary to pursue our goals. From participation in the May Day Rally, to talks in Trinity College, to media interviews, to the film launch, DWAG used the action week to generate public awareness about the issues and the group's calls for action.




Opening Doors: Migrant Domestic Workers Speak Through Art (2007)

Opening Doors is a photographic collaboration between members of the Domestic Workers Action Group and artist Susan Gogan. Members directed and staged photographic representations of their work showing the value of domestic work and work in the care sector. Blurred Boundaries is a creative textile and multimedia installation created by 45 member of the Domestic Workers Action Group.

Go to the Opening Doors website to view the photographs, and click on the different panels of the Blurred Boundaries quilt to hear audio testimonies from DWAG members (click on 'blurred boundaries' link along the bottom navigation).



Domestic Workers Action Group in the Press


Metro Eireann (14 Dec 2011) Bringing an end to modern-day slavery

The Irish Times (21 Nov 2011) Inquiry under way into alleged abuse of embassy staff

Irish Examiner (19 July 2011) Child minder awarded €41k over racial discrimination

The Irish Times (6 July 2011) Inspections find abuses of domestic workers

Irish Examiner (6 July 2011) Domestic workers exploited, says EU

Cork Independent (24 Feb 2011) No place like home

Irish Independent (5 Feb 2011) Filipino diplomat accused of hiring maid for just €25

Liberty (February 2011) 50 year of struggle for ILO recognition

The Irish Times (29 Nov 2010) Embassy's boycott of hearing criticised

The Irish Times (27 Nov 2010) Protest at embassy opening over domestic worker's rights

The Irish Times (27 Nov 2010) Hidden abuse of diplomats' domestics

Evening Herald (19 Nov 2010) Au pairs 'treated like slaves' as job market dries up

The Irish Times (16 Nov 2010) Campaign starts to protect rights of domestic workers

The Irish Times (2 Jan 2010) Stories of the years to come

The Irish Times (5 Nov 2009) Protest over ambassador's immunity claim in employment rights dispute

Irish Examiner (5 Nov 2009) Protest over ambassador's immunity claim in worker case

Metro Éireannm (3 Dec 2009) Anger over 'diplomatic immunity' in embassy employment dispute

The African Voice Domestic workers seek justice from South African ambassador before her departure from Ireland

Metro Éireann (24 Dec 2009) 'No jurisdiction' to hear worker's complains against ex-SA ambassador