Paid domestic work and the struggles of care workers in Latin America

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merike Blofield ◽  
Merita Jokela
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Care Workers

About 30% of households are intimately involved in paid domestic work in Latin America, either as employers or as workers. Paid domestic workers overwhelmingly are female, from racial and ethnic minorities, and earn low wages. Labour codes have historically accorded them fewer rights and protections. Domestic workers have organized to demand equal rights, and recently, this organizing has begun to pay off. This article discusses the dynamics of paid domestic work through the themes of commodification and changes in government policies. Through a comparison of post-millennium Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Peru, the article compares the working conditions and struggles of domestic workers and highlights the factors that explain different outcomes in terms of labour rights and protections across these countries. It is argued that stronger rights and protections were made possible by the interactive effects of domestic workers organizing, more sympathetic left-wing governments, and the watershed ILO 2011 Convention on Domestic Workers.

Care Workers in Argentina

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-482
Author(s):  
Valeria Esquivel ◽  
Francisca Pereyra
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Early Education ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Relative Wages ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Feminized Occupations

The working conditions, relative wages, and social standing of care occupations are the result of diverse causes that can worsen, improve, or neutralize the labor disadvantages usually found in care occupations. This article seeks to provide a perspective on the factors underlying care workers’ working conditions in Argentina. It presents a comparative analysis of three highly feminized occupations—early education teachers, nurses, and domestic workers. After highlighting the different working conditions among these occupations, the paper focuses on the critically important role that unionization and state policies have played in defining each labor context in Argentina. The analysis shows how workers’ evaluation of their occupation and working conditions are fundamentally shaped by these two variables.

scholarly journals The Entrapment of Migrant Workers in Servile Labour: The Case of Live-in Domestic Workers from Ukraine in Greece

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Xypolitas
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Employment Relationships ◽  
Subjective Element ◽  
Emotional Demands

<p>The article presents an effort to analyze the entrapment of migrant domestic workers in their low-status jobs. This will be done by looking at the consequences of live-in domestic work on migrant women from Ukraine working as servants in Athens. The study utilizes a Marxo-Weberian framework that focuses on both working conditions and perceptions of migrant workers. It is argued that the emotional demands of domestic work result in migrants perceiving their tasks as an extension of familial relationships and obligations. These employment relationships are defined as ‘pseudo-familial’ and form the basis of deference in domestic work. Combined with the structural barriers in the labour market, deference represents the subjective element of the entrapment of migrants in their job.</p>

Informed but Insecure

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Considerable Improvement ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Main Barrier ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Better Than

This chapter analyzes the most extensive survey to date of domestic workers in Ecuador, with four hundred women sharing information about their working conditions, benefits, and social security. Most useful for informing policy and organizing strategies are the insights about which workers are most likely to know and demand their rights and the evidence that working conditions of current workers are better than those of former workers, which could indicate change over time. Efforts to inform workers of their right to social security seem to have been successful: 88 percent of the survey participants knew that domestic workers are entitled to join the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS). The main barrier to coverage, however, is the reluctance of employers to enroll workers and contribute on their behalf: nearly a third of survey respondents who were not enrolled reported that their employers' opposition was the reason why. Confirming research findings from around Latin America, working conditions reported by the survey participants are not good. However, they seem to be improving somewhat over time. More than twice as many current workers reported receiving overtime pay when compared with former workers. For vacation time and bonuses, more than four times as many current workers reported receiving these benefits. Despite this considerable improvement, there is still a long way to go for today's domestic workers.

Organizing in the Shadows: Domestic Workers in the Netherlands

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margriet Kraamwinkel
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Residence Permit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cash Payment ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Devil

In 2009, a small group of domestic workers joined FNV Bondgenoten, the largest Dutch trade union in the private sector and affiliated with the Dutch trade union confederation FNV. The group that joined consisted mainly of women immigrant workers, many of whom did not have a residence permit. FNV’s policy is that we organize workers and do not ask for passports. Still, a group like this brought to light several problems for FNV, both practical and fundamental. The Article identifies three types of problems. The first set of problems concerns the invisibility of domestic workers. Domestic workers work in private houses and are leery of talking to strangers if they don’t have residence permits. This demanded new organizing tactics from the sector, like asking women to bring a friend to a meeting and joining churches. A cash payment of membership fees system was devised, its administration done by handwriting. At the same time, the public debate on immigration toughened; immigrants without residence permits (“illegal aliens”) in particular were depicted as somewhere between a profiteer and the devil. This debate also took place within FNV. The second set of problems is defined by the traditional views in Dutch society on domestic work. The group chose to become union members, since they wanted to better their position in the labor market. Dutch law on domestic work excludes them from full protection of labor and social security law. The inclusion of domestic work in labor and social security law is contrary to cultural and historical traditions and views and therefore contentious. The third set of problems is caused by the connectedness of labor and social security law and immigration law. Domestic workers in the Netherlands work in the shadows in two ways: by not having a residence permit, and by not being protected by labor and social security law. The result of our campaign is that a group of publicly financed care workers will be better protected, but the group of domestic workers that fought for ILO Convention 189 will still be excluded from our labor and social security law and not be able to qualify for a residence permit.

scholarly journals Negotiating Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Performing Migrant Domestic Work in Contentious Conditions

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110003
Author(s):  
Satveer Kaur-Gill ◽  
Yeo Qin-Liang ◽  
Samira Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Structural Context ◽  
Precarious Labor ◽  
Mobile Working ◽  
Health And Well Being

Migrant domestic work is performed in precariously im(mobile) working conditions that mark the subaltern body in a state of constant lived experience with and in strife. In Singapore, the structural context of hire amplifies conditions of servitude, indebtedness, and subalternity that have implications for mental health. This study documents mental health narratives by migrant domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, registering how mental health is negotiated amid dissension in the performance of precarious labor. While functional employment structures enabled and empowered well-being, dysfunctional structures disrupted mental health meanings, creating layers of constant contention for domestic workers to broker, limiting opportunities for mental health and well-being. Narratives gathered indicate systemic mental health precarities tied to workplace dysfunctions.

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