Comments on: Abused domestic workers – are we to blame? https://iloblog.org/2013/01/11/abuses-that-domestic-workers-suffer-are-we-to-blame/ Blog of the International Labour Organization (ILO): Promoting jobs, protecting people Fri, 19 Jul 2013 13:16:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Agnes Masesa (@AgnesMasesa) https://iloblog.org/2013/01/11/abuses-that-domestic-workers-suffer-are-we-to-blame/comment-page-1/#comment-2035 Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:51:35 +0000 http://iloblog.org/?p=251#comment-2035 Being Tanzanian, I grew up with domestic workers in our household and up to this day. Most domestic workers in Tanzania are those from rural areas whose parents cannot afford to pay for them tuition fees for secondary schools. Recently, the government introduced localized secondary schools of which every child can attend after primary school and as a result domestic workers are hard to find. But that does not mean they do not exist anymore. I once asked for reasons of poor payment to domestic workers and was told if well paid they get enough money and neglect the job, thus to keep them at work is by paying them so little that they have no savings at the end of the month which makes no sense. Most other workers in informal sectors working for private individuals work long hours, receive no written job contracts and get low payments for same reasons, are referred to as daily laborers so that the government does not force the owners to pay them minimum wages, claim employment taxes and pension for these workers. Things have to change now or poverty and social inequality will never be eradicated in the developing countries.

]]> By: Barry Holt https://iloblog.org/2013/01/11/abuses-that-domestic-workers-suffer-are-we-to-blame/comment-page-1/#comment-773 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:57:50 +0000 http://iloblog.org/?p=251#comment-773 I am delighted to hear about the campaigning whcih ILO is starting to address the issue of migrant domestic workers. We hear about the cases involving industrial workers such as the Chinese cockle pickers killed in the UK and the recent case here where Lithuanian workers were kept in “slave conditions”. Unfortunately it seems to take sensational cases like the beheading in Saudia Arabia, last week, of a domestice worker before the plight of this group reaches public consciousness.

I write a monthly article in Health & Safety at Work magazine whcih goes to our members and I would like to refer in my next articel to the campaign and your article. I hope that this will be in order.

Barry Holt
Director of Policy & Research
International Institute of Risk & Safety Management

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