Invitation to a Meeting to discuss a Participatory Mechanism to Regulate Domestic Work.
Date: 13th April 2007
Time: 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Venue: Indian Social Institute,10 Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Dear Friends,
This letter is to invite you to an important meeting on domestic workers, to be held on Friday 13th April 2007 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Indian Social Institute,10 Institutional Area, Lodi Road, New Delhi. We have been trying to form a bridge between different organisations and trade unions working on domestic workers’ rights, women’s rights, child rights and workers’ rights.
Our aim is to discus and develop humane and decent working conditions for domestic workers, particularly for the full-time, in-house domestic workers, most of whom are teenage girls (many under 14 years) from Jharkhand and surrounding tribal regions and from West Bengal. In this direction we had organised the first joint meeting on 10th Oct 2006, the day on which the ban on child labour in domestic work became operational, and the second meeting on 13th March 2007.
In between, a meeting was organised by the National Commission for Women on 20th Dec.2006 on the issue of regulation of agencies involved in the placement of domestic workers in Delhi. Our experience of working as a Co-operative society of domestic workers since 1999 has shown us that, apart from those employed through agencies, many tribal girls are directly employed as full-time in-house domestic workers and are in an equally vulnerable situation. It is not enough to merely regulate the agencies. Therefore, we have been pleading for a participatory mechanism to regulate the entire sector of domestic work.
The NCW has called another meeting on 18th April 2007 on regulation of domestic work. We feel that organisations working on the issues of domestic workers should first themselves meet and work out a joint approach and common demands to be placed before the NCW. Therefore we urge you to attend the 13th April 2007 meeting at which we hope to reach an understanding on a Tripartite Board system to regulate ‘domestic work’. We would also like to discuss ways of regulating ‘placement agencies’ through the same system. The intention is to devise a strategy that will also help the thousands of part time domestic workers.
Our proposal is in line with the recommendations of the 2nd National Labour Commission to provide Social Security to Unorganised Sector Workers including domestic workers through a Tripartite Board, as well as the order of the Supreme Court on the PIL on behalf of domestic Workers.
We request you to please ensure your participation at this preparatory meeting, so that at the NCW meeting of 18th April 2007 a concrete decision can be taken on approaching the Delhi government to constitute a Tripartite Board through an Executive Order, till such time as an appropriate Comprehensive Legislation is enacted for domestic workers.
