Experience of National Domestic Workers Movement in India promoting Labour Rights and Social Protection for Vulnerable Workers

The National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) in India is rights based movement of domestic workers across 17 states in the country. Since 2011, NDWM has been facilitating the establishment of trade unions of domestic workers in several States. Fifteen domestic workers trade unions together form the “National Domestic Workers Federation (NDWF)”.  Each members pays Rs 60 to 120 (1 to 2 US dollar) as membership fees per annum, of which 10 % is shared with the NDWF.

At the moment, The Jharkhand Gharelu Kaamgar Union, the domestic workers union affiliate of NDWF in Jharkhand State is developing a domestic workers cooperative, with the support of ILO (pilot project). The objective of such a the cooperative is 3-fold:

• Promote decent work for domestic workers through collective bargaining and thus to facilitate the transition of the sector from the informal to the formal economy;
• Break the unequal employment relationship between domestic workers and employers;
• Enhance the skills of domestic workers and facilitate quality both for the domestic workers and the employers.
• Facilitate economic empowerment of domestic workers through savings and credit from Cooperative.

For those domestic workers, who are already members of the union and  wish to become a member of the Cooperative has to pay a onetime membership fee of Rs.50 and buy minimum one share of Rs.100 (1,5 USD). A member can buy maximum of 20 shares. In return, the cooperative provides the following services to its members :

• Training on the functioning of cooperatives, leadership etc.
• 60 hours of skills training to each member in collaboration with well-known Hospitality industry.
• A savings and credit scheme (members can take loans on a minimum  interest  2% per annum)
• Facilitate employment in Hospitality sector and real estate (Apartments) with a written tripartite contract (Cooperative, Employer and Worker) with a code of conduct and terms and conditions of work.
• The Cooperative extends a social security cover (health insurance, maternity, unemployment benefit and pension) to its members. The premium is paid from the contribution of worker (5% of total salary per month) and the employer (5% of total salary per month) deducted from the worker. The employer pays the salary to the cooperative and in turn the cooperative pays to its members.

For the time being, one cooperative has been established in Jharkhand State with 102 domestic workers as “member-shareholders”. In comparison, the domestic workers union in Jharkhand State has currently over 3.000 members, so there is more awareness raising to be done to convince more union members to join the cooperative. CBA negotiation has started mainly with corporate houses and real estates (apartment buildings). The advantages for the “employers” are the following:

• Acquisition of the specific services required by them.
• Skilled domestic workers.
• In case of complaints or grievances, they can turn to the cooperative as an intermediary.
• They don’t have to deal with the wage and social security administration.
• The union backs the work of the cooperative by providing to the cooperative:
• Training and capacity building on labor rights,
• Legal services (legal support),

Uzziel TWAGILIMANA, WSM Africa
Bart VERSTRAETEN, WSM Belgium
Chandran CHETAN, NDWM, India