Roundtable discussion: Domestic worker organizing in Latin America and beyond

Abstract

In 2011, the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted the Domestic Worker Convention (no. 189), which established labor standards for household workers, including protection from abuse, provisions to ensure freedom of movement for migrant domestic workers, coverage under national minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and human rights laws, and access to contact information of private employers and appropriate legal resources, among others. Domestic worker advocates throughout Latin America rallied behind the ILO's Domestic Worker Convention to ensure its ratification at the national level. Latin American and Caribbean nations account for 55% of the national signatories to the convention; at the same time, 77% of domestic workers in the region remain informally employed. The roundtable discussion brought together scholars conducting research in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico, and among Central Americans in the United States, to address the impact of the ILO convention and to share their research on domestic work and domestic worker movements. How have the changes in domestic work regulation affected the organizing efforts of domestic workers? How are domestic workers advocating for their rights in the wake of the ILO Convention?