Contract Defines Rights of Mexico’s Domestic Workers Mexico News Daily
go to original July 26, 2017

Mexico: Domestic Workers Organize to Fight for Their Rights (TeleSUR English)

A campaign has been launched to encourage more domestic workers — commonly known as muchachas, maids or housekeepers — and their employers to sign contracts that define the workers’ rights and give them the benefits to which they are legally entitled.

Called “Decent work for you, for me and for all my colleagues,” the campaign aims to ensure that domestic workers are not subjected to discrimination and exploitation in their workplace.

Workers and employers signed 18 contracts on International Domestic Workers’ Day last month but now the goal is considerably more ambitious: 10,000 contracts signed before December 20, the date by which employers are legally required to pay an annual bonus called the aguinaldo.

According to Inegi, the National Statistics Institute, 95% of domestic workers are women and only 4% work under contracts in which their rights and obligations are clearly stated.

Many of them don’t receive the benefits they should and/or work under unfair conditions, say advocates on their behalf.

Consequently, the idea arose for a standard contract that formally recognizes workers’ rights to vacation days, pay rates on national holidays and the year-end bonus.

The contract is seen as an important tool because the federal government has not ratified a six-year-old International Labour Organization (ILO) convention that sets out guidelines for domestic work.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

Related: Indigenous Community Entitled to Unemployment Insurance in Mexico City (The News)

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