The centre strives to study conditions where all working people can live with dignity.
It also tends to work to make efforts that will ensure all working people are able to access nothing less than a ‘need-based minimum wage’, along with ‘decent conditions at work’ as laid down in policy documents, legislation and the law of the land.
About the Workshop
The Centre for Labour Law Research and Advocacy (CLLRA), National Law University Delhi (NLUD) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (India office) are organizing a ONE- DAY National Workshop on 22nd May 2023, to deliberate on a legal framework to ensure decent livelihood and welfare for paid domestic workers in India. The one-day National Workshop would discuss an efficient legal framework for domestic workers in India and different components of proposed legislation, including definitive and interpretative standards.
SESSION DETAILS
SESSION I. Socio-political underpinnings of domestic work: figuring the language for the law.
SESSION II. Towards an institutional model for decent domestic work.
SESSION III. Rights and empowerment of Domestic Workers.
SESSION IV – Dignity at work: compliance and grievance redressal.
Concept Note
Paid domestic work is one of the supporting pillars of today’s market economy, given its social reproduction functions. As the Indian economy grows and a significant section of our society enjoys increased household income, the demand for paid domestic work rises. The burgeoning care workeconomy, however, remains in the shadows, without due legal recognition at the national level. Paid domestic workers in India remain invisible as a workforce within the conventional labour law paradigm despite their collective demand since the 1950s.
Care work has always been heavily feminised and the phenomenon is supported by social stereotypes about gender roles in the society. Lack of legal recognition has added fuel to fire and led to myriad problems for paid domestic workers in India, who are mostly migrant women from disadvantaged communities. A well- known consequence is the undervaluation of domestic work that denies women a decent livelihood and dignity at work. Domestic work has been largely associated with precarity reflecting on long working hours, low wages, exploitative and discriminatory practices at work, lack of job security and social security, all of which have led to aggravated challenges in work-life of this workforce. Their legal invisibility has made them particularly vulnerable to abusive practices such as trafficking, forced labour, child labour, sexual violence and even cases of murder.
The conditions persist despite various protective and remedial efforts at the national and international levels. The ILO adopted the Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) in 2011 to ensure formalisation of this workforce with dignity at work, freedom of association and eliminate discrimination, forced labour, and child labour. The Convention also recommended standardising the employment contracts of paid domestic workers. India, being a founding member of ILO and also a country with a huge population of paid domestic workers, has an obligation, both internationally and domestically, to address the plight of this workforce. It is time that we recognise paid domestic work as a distinct occupational category and work towards a legal framework to address their vulnerabilities and strengthen their bargaining power in the labour market.
We find support for our initiative in our robust constitutional chassis. The Directive Principles of State Policy (especially Articles 39, 41, 42, 43, and 43-A) call for decent conditions at work; living wage; maternity benefits; and protection from unemployment, sickness, old age, and abusive practices at work. On multiple occasions, the Indian judiciary has also upheld the right to minimum wages and dignity at workplace; ensured protection against exploitative practices including trafficking; and ensured protection to domestic workers (see, for instance, Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. Union of India, AIR 2012 SC 3445; Shramjeevi Mahila Samiti v. Govt. of NCT, Delhi, Special Leave to Appeal Crl. No. 150/2012).
In order to uphold the international covenants, constitutional mandate, and judicial guidelines to recognise and protect paid domestic workers, a comprehensive legislation specifically designed to improve their work-life conditions should be enacted.
The one-day National Workshop would focus on discussions around an efficient legal framework for the domestic workers in India. Different components of a proposed legislation, including definitive and interpretative standards; character of institutional mechanism – welfare boards and other functionaries; rights and empowerment provisions – social protection, welfare benefits and conditions at work; dispute settlement and grievance redressal methods with offences & penalties, would be deliberated upon. During the discussions, effort would also be made to direct relevant questions to the panelists and other participants for brainstorming on crucial issues in the context of social realities of domestic workers.
To make the discussion specific and goal- oriented, the workshop would be conducted in four different sessions:
1. SESSION I. Socio-political underpinnings of domestic work: figuring the language for the law.
The workshop would begin with a discussion on socio-political dynamics of domestic work to build a conceptually sound definitional framework for a domestic work law grounded in reality. Previous movements and deliberations on various conceptual dilemmas, including, but not limited to the meaning and scope of ‘work’, ‘workplace’, ‘employer’, both at
the national and international level, would form part of the discussion.
2. SESSION II. Towards an institutional model for decent domestic work.
In the second session, we would proceed to discuss the possibility of building effective institutions and statutory bodies, such as a welfare board, that are required to ensure a robust system of protection and welfare of paid domestic workers. A discussion on the division of powers and functions between various statutory institutions to ensure better coordination and delivery of results may also take place.
3. SESSION III – Rights and empowerment of domestic workers. This session would see deliberations on the rights of domestic workers. Grounding the discussion on the precarity of paid domestic workers in their work-life, we would proceed to re-examine unsettled issues of social security and welfare benefits due to them and explore efficient policy designs for such provisions.
4. SESSION IV – Dignity at work: compliance and grievance redressal. The last session would focus on other conditions at work and possible grievance redressal mechanisms for paid domestic workers;The objective of this event is to facilitate the drafting of legislation for the protection of domestic workers. Hence, all the sessions would have designated time for separate deliberations on the potential design of legal provisions in addition to open house discussions. The outcome would be utilized for improvising upon the proposed legislation for domestic workers.