NAFCON congratulates domestic workers on Pres. Aquino’s signing of ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers
Statement
June 18, 2012
Contact: Terrence Valen, NAFCON President, (415) 203-0696
NAFCON congratulates domestic workers on Pres. Aquino’s signing of ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers
Urges Senator Loren Legarda to ensure Philippine ratification by July
The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) and our thirty member organizations across the United States send warm and joyous congratulations to domestic workers on winning President Aquino’s signature to the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers! We urge Senator Loren Legarda to champion formal Philippine ratification of the convention by the deadline of end of July.
A landmark victory hard won by domestic workers around the world, the ILO Convention finally sets international standards protecting domestic workers from labor abuses widespread in the industry. Philippine ratification of the convention would bind the government to implementation of the convention’s standards such as protection from abuse and the right to collective bargaining. The International Migrants Alliance (IMA), with 130 migrant worker member organizations in the Philippines and 26 countries around the world, vowed to ensure ratification and implementation of the international standards and to strengthen efforts to end the exploitation of domestic workers.
”We work hard to take care of people’s homes and loved ones so that we can earn money to support our own families,” said Bernadette Herrera, a domestic worker and spokesperson for NAFCON, a member of IMA. ”We are growing stronger in the fight to defend our rights and President Aquino’s signature shows the power of domestic worker organizing in the Philippines. Now more than ever we must unite and to win formal recognition in the Philippines.”
June 16 marked the one year anniversary of the historic ILO convention victory. The Convention needs at least two countries to ratify it before the end of July deadline. If ratified by the Philippine Senate, the Philippine government will be the second country after Uruguay to have ratified, allowing for the convention to officially take force.
“There is no time to waste. The clock is ticking with only weeks from the deadline. Foreign domestic workers and Filipino migrant workers all over the world will take the Philippine government to task if the Convention is not ratified in time. The rights and welfare of our Filipino domestic workers are at stake,” said Garry Martinez, Migrante International Chairperson and IMA member.
Mabuhay ang mga domestic workers sa Pilipinas at buong mundo!
End the exploitation of Filipino and all domestic workers!
Philippine Government – ratify the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers!
******** NAFCON DEMANDS DOMESTIC WORKERS RIGHTS, FROM CALIFORNIA TO THE PHILIPPINES ************
In California, Filipino domestic workers still continue the difficult work of caregiving and cleaning homes without the protections extended to all other California workers such as overtime and the right to meal and rest breaks. More than four thousand Filipinos leave the Philippines everyday in search of work. Desperate to support their families, thousands accept jobs in the domestic work industry where they often suffer labor violations and even physical and mental abuse due to exclusions from labor protections and the isolated nature of the work.
California legislators have the opportunity to take a stand against the exclusion of domestic workers by passing AB889, the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. AB 889 would extend domestic workers the same protections enjoyed by nearly all other workers in the U.S. such as the right to overtime pay, meal and rest breaks and workers compensation.
“Filipino domestic workers in California are tired of working non-stop around the clock without rest and overtime pay,” said Herrera. “We are inspired by the strength of domestic workers organizing around the world and their victorious passage of the ILO convention on domestic work. We are fighting side by side with them to demand labor protection for domestic workers internationally and are organizing to win recognition in California through the Bill of Rights.”
Pass the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights!
Mabuhay ang Migranteng Pilipino!
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