Blog: May 2010

Domestic workers mobilizing to make their voices heard during the 2010 International Labor Conference

During a recent conference, entitled "Exploited, Undervalued and Essential," hosted by the University of Western Cape’s Social Law Project, academics and experts made recommendations for ways to improve conditions of work for domestic workers, such as local and municipal administration of regulations to facilitate monitoring and collective bargaining and tax incentives for employers to register employees with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

The advocacy and mobilization on domestic worker issues is not new in South Africa, however the conference contributed to recent ongoing research and consultation related to the drafting of a proposed ILO instrument on Decent Work for Domestic Workers that many labor organizations and some governments hopes to have adopted by 2011.

Reportback from 2010 “Sweatshop Workers Speak Out” Speaking Tour

Likewise General Secretary of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation of Pakistan, Zehra Bano, spoke out against the unfair treatment that many home based garment workers, bracelet craftsmen and soccer ball stitchers in Pakistan face.  Although such workers use their homes as a factory, they are not paid for the additional electricity or other costs that arise from using their homes for work. As informal workers, these women are prohibited from forming unions and filing court cases since they are not recognized as workers by law. Such status prevents home based workers from receiving the fair living wages, health benefits and job security that come with being a registered worker.

Happy Mother's Day and the 2010 Report on the Colombian Floriculture Industry by Corporación Cactus

Hopefully you answered no; however, for many workers in the Colombian flower industry, the answer is not as clear. Situations like the one mentioned above were just one of the many unfair employment practice trends that were emphasized by Corporación Cactus in their 2010 Report on the Colombian Floriculture Industry. 

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