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a single employer every day for a specified number of hours and returns back to her/his home every day after work.

Live in worker: workers who work full time for a single employer and also stays on the premises for the employer or in a dwelling provided by the employer.

Unorganized Sector and the International Labour Organization

The unorganized sector has not been defined any where scientifically; However this term was used to speak of availability or non availability of certain benefits or rights to the working class outside the organized sector. Sometimes this sector is also termed as informal sector. The First National Commission on Labour (1966-69) has defined unorganized labour as those who have not been able to organize themselves in pursuit of common objective on account of constraints like casual nature of employment, ignorance and illiteracy, small and scattered size of establishments and the position of power exercised over them by employers because of the nature of the Industry. In rural areas, the unorganized sector mainly comprises landless agricultural labourers, small and marginal farmers, share croppers, those engaged in animal husbandry, poultry and fishing activities, rural artisans forest workers toddy tappers etc. Whereas in urban areas it comprises mainly of manual labourers engaged in construction, carpentry, trade, transport, communication etc, and also includes street vendors, hawkers, head load workers, garment makers etc.

Improving the conditions of domestic workers has been the concern of International Labour Organization (ILO) since its early days. As early as 1948, the ILO adopted a resolution concerning the conditions of employment of domestic workers. In 1965, it adopted a resolution calling for normative action in their area. While in 1970 the first survey ever published on the status of domestic workers across the world made its appearance. The Decent work Agenda provides a new and promising avenue for ensuring visibility and respect for domestic workers standard setting on decent work for domestic workers will take the ILO beyond the identification of non compliance and towards the provisions of specific constructive guidance on how to regulate effectively a category of worker that is singularly in need of support.

Empowerment of Domestic Workers through Social Security

Overcoming the impeding handicaps through empowerment is a special means chosen for social transformation in welfare democracy. Existence of a law or efforts bring in changes is not enough, community empowerment, are necessary because they are the only means to adequately address and remedy the underlying cause of injustice. Empowerment is a purpose oriented action of reinforcing the ability of the disadvantaged group to gain self generating power to be equal partners in the process of development, to remove vulnerability of the exploited and to prevent the perpetration of exploitation, violence and injustice.

Social security basically refers to protection from socially acknowledged detrimental conditions such as old age, poverty unemployment etc. It can be termed as basic security, ensuring access to the basic necessities such as food clothing shelter education and medical care. Social security was first officially recognized in 1919 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) which stressed on the need to protection of workers who were employed in countries other than their own. It was consequently accepted by the General Assembly of the United Nations while adopting Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which states that every member of the society has a right to social security. The focus of the social security is to enhance and protect people’s capabilities to be adequately nourished, clothed, to avoid escapable morbidity and preventable death. The average experience of poorer populations is the unstable nature of their existence, since many of them undergo severe and often sudden dispossession and the threat of such a thing happening is common. The decline may result from changes in personal circumstances or from fluctuations in the social surroundings. Therefore we may understand the social security as “the provision of benefit to households and individuals through public or collective arrangements to protect against low or declining standard of living arising from a number of basic risks and needs. For clearer understanding we may enlist the social security measures or programmes for income substances income maintenance and for medical as:

Provident funds/Gratuity

Old age, survivor, widow and disability pension

Medical care

Protection from all kinds of risks life and non life affecting the social existence of individual.”

Social Security in India

The social security schemes in India cover only a small section of the organized work force, Workers who are having direct employer employee relationship with an organization. Social security in India was traditionally taken care of by the joint family and community in general. With the rapid industrialization and urbanization beginning during the early 20th century and resulting to an extent in the breakup of the family setup, the need for institutionalized and state cum society regulated social security arose. In India although social security is not a Fundamental Right, the laws incorporating it draw strength from the Directive Principles as contained in the Constitution of India (Articles 38-47). This provides for mandatory social security benefits either solely at the cost of the employers or on the basis of joint contribution of the employees and the employers, seeking to achieve social, economic and political justice for all sections of the society.

Article 41 states that the state shall within the limits of its economic capacity and development make effective provisions for securing the right to work to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want

Article 42 requires the State to secure just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.

Article 47 requires the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and improvement of public health.

The Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution also lays down social security issues in two of its items:

Item 23: Social Security and insurance, employment and unemployment.

Item 24: Welfare of Labour including conditions of work, provident funds, employers’ liability, workmen’s compensation, invalidity and old age pension and maternity benefits.

The chief social security legislations enacted in India include:

The Employees State Insurance Act 1948,

The Minimum Wages Act 1948,

The Employees Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952,

The Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923,

The Maternity Benefit Act 1961,

The Payment of Gratuity Act 1972,

Protection for Domestic Workers

The 100th Annual Conference of ILO on Thursday 16 June adopted the historic set of international standards aimed at improving the work conditions of domestic workers. The Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 of 2011, moves the standard system of ILO into the informal economy. The Convention set out that the domestic workers around the world, must have the same basic labour rights as those available to other workers like:

Minimum wage coverage (Article 11)

Freedom of Association and Right to collective bargaining; limiting of working hours, Right to overtime pay, Weekly rest and paid annual leave (Article 10)

Protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and violence (Article 5)

Fair terms of employment and decent working conditions, optional live in requirement and right to keep possession of travel and identify documents (Article 9)

The Convention was adopted with 396 votes in favour and 16 against (63 abstentions); it is to enter into force one year after ratification by two countries. On 26 April 2012, Uruguay ratified the convention followed by Philippines on 6 August 2012 giving new hopes to domestic workers.

In India, in 1948 domestic workers were excluded from the purview of the National Minimum Wages Act. Later various versions of the Domestic workers (conditions of Service) Bill were drafted separately during the years 1959, 1972, 1977, 1989 & 2004. The bill prepared through these drafts was also known as the housemaids and the Domestic Servants Bill. The objective of the proposed bill was to ensure minimum wages, holidays and fixed hours of work for the domestic workers and to prevent the financial and sexual exploitation by their employers. In 2008, the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act was enacted by the Central Government. The first ever National Policy for domestic workers, entitles them to minimum wages, defined hours of work, paid annual leave, sick leave and maternity benefits. Once the policy is implemented domestic workers will be covered by eight existing social security laws in India. The Central Government amended the Central Civil Service Conduct Rules to prohibit any government official/civil servant from employing children below the age of 14 years as domestic workers. Indian law prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years age in certain occupations in accordance to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. By 10 October 2006 the ban on child labour included employment of children in domestic work. Karnataka has passed the Minimum wages Act for Domestic Workers on 1 April 2004 followed by Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. The Domestic Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Act 2008 provides for registration of domestic workers and states that a domestic worker between 18 to 60 years of age and engaged in domestic work for not less than ninety days can be registered as domestic worker. It also provides for minimum wages to all registered domestic workers as per Minimum Wages Act 1948. It also protects a live in worker by providing daily rest of at least 10 hours, and entitles them to annual leave with wages for at least 15 days. The Act is subject to state legislation and therefore the state governs its implementation. However the central notification date is still pending.

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Rajasthan and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have recently taken a lead in fixation of minimum rates of wages for these workers. On the basis of the information available from State Governments, a statement showing the minimum rates of wages for Domestic Workers under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 is as under:

Sl. No

State/Union Territory

Minimum Wage (in Rs.)

Per hour Per day Per month Effective date

 

1

Andhra Pradesh

12.50 100.00 2600.00 01.04.2009

 

2

Bihar

13.64 109.12 2837.12 01.10.2010

 

3

Karnataka

10.48 111.83 2907.70 01.04.2010

(for 45 minutes)

4

Kerala

 

-- 136.50 30.06.2010

 

5

Rajasthan

155.00 01.01.2011

 

 

6

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

136.60 01.07.2010

 

 

Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment.

 

Conclusion

What is required is a set of rules and laws that recognize domestic workers, regulate their working conditions and pay, as well as of the agents, who mediate the worker-employer relationship, could have a fundamental impact on the conditions of work. However the problem of legislating on domestic workers is intertwined with issues pertaining to the regulation of the informal sector in India. It conflict with the non-regulatory thrust of neo-liberal economic policies and the pressure against the regulation of informal workers exercised by the elite and the expanding numbers of “servant”-employing households. The complexity of work organization, wage rates, poor working conditions, poverty, illiteracy, caste, migrant status, lack of alternative work, and the exigencies of the life of domestic workers are similar to that of the vast numbers of informal workers. The success of social policy depends on the extent to which these workers’ rights are recognized rather than through piecemeal welfare measures. Discrimination and exploitative practices will not improve overnight. To make the new international standards count domestic workers groups, trade unions, the non governmental organizations and others must strengthen their efforts at national level.

Many states in India have tried to bring in social security measures to the unorganized sector including domestic workers, obviously implementation remains a problem, but this is aided by the attempts at unionization of such workers and related collective action, as have occurred in Kerala, Mumbai and elsewhere. Professionalizing the relations between employer and employee, can only be done through a combination of organization, legislation and institution-building. This makes it imperative for the Government of India to ratify the ILO Convention on Domestic Work. Ratification of the Convention is just a first step in a longer process, but it will prove to be an important step in ensuring the dignity of all domestic workers in India.

References

National Commission for women,http://wcd.nic.in/ar0708/English/Chapter-10.pdf

The ILO Convention 189 Concerning Decent Work for Domestic workers Article 1,full text: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm

Madhava Rao P, Social security for the unorganized in India-An Approach paper http://www.globalaging.org/health/world/socindia.pdf

InternationalLabourConference, 99th session 2010, Report