News

The Convention is aimed at improving the working conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide. The new ILO standards set out that domestic workers around the world who care for families and households, must have the same basic labour rights as those available to other workers: reasonable hours of work, weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours, a limit on in-kind payment, clear information on terms and conditions of employment, as well as respect for fundamental principles and rights at work including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.



According to the ILO survey (compiled from the reports from 117 countries), there are around 53 million of such workers in the world. However, experts say that due to the fact that this kind of work is often hidden and unregistered, the total number of domestic workers could be as high as 100 million. In developing countries, they make up at least 4 to 12 per cent of wage employment. Around 83 per cent of these workers are women or girls and many are migrant workers.



According to ILO proceedings, the new Convention will come into force after two countries have ratified it.



Text of the convention can be downloaded from here:



http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/100thSession/reports/provisional-records/WCMS_157836/lang--en/index.htm



Read more on the ITUC website:



http://www.ituc-csi.org/new-international-convention-on.html