Simon Black, Elaine Duncan, Shirley Pryce | Domestic workers deserve dignity and respect

Countries around the globe are facing care crises, a dire situation of growing gaps between care needs and societies’ capacities to meet these needs. Jamaica is no exception: from underinvestment in care services and inadequate care leave policies, outmigration of care professionals are major concerns. Further, demographic shifts, namely an aging population and declining birth rate, has fuelled the crisis of care. 

For many Jamaican households, the unpaid care work of family members, relatives, and neighbours – work done disproportionately by women – fills care gaps. Jamaican women spend nearly four times as much time on unpaid care as men. But women do not bear the burdens of unpaid care evenly: middle- and upper-class households can purchase care services on the market, including by employing domestic workers. This is a luxury that poor households cannot afford. 

Domestic workers, 80 per cent of whom are women, play a central, though often unacknowledged, role in Jamaica’s care sector. An estimated 22 per cent of domestic workers in Jamaica provide direct care for private households, meaning face-to-face personal care for children, people with disabilities, the sick, or the elderly. Almost all women employed in the sector provide some form of indirect care services for households such as cooking, cleaning, or doing the laundry. Despite the social value of this work, low wages, long hours, and long commutes, and lack of access to care leave hinder domestic workers’ capacities to care for their own families even while providing paid care for others. 

PROMISE OF DECENT WORK

It doesn’t have to be this way. Ten years ago this October, Jamaica ratified the International Labour Organization Convention No. 189, the Domestic Workers Convention, becoming only the second country in the Caribbean to do so. The landmark convention is the first international legal instrument devoted to domestic work and contains a minimum set of standards to promote decent work for domestic workers. The convention was founded on “the fundamental premise that domestic workers are neither ‘servants’ nor ‘members of the family’ nor second-class workers”.

The Jamaica Household Workers’ Union (JHWU), which represents over 8,000 domestic workers across 13 chapters and which celebrated its 35th anniversary this year, played a decisive role in pushing the Government to ratify Convention 189. To its credit, the Government has made slow but steady progress towards achieving decent work for domestic workers. Domestic workers now enjoy a relatively high degree of coverage under labour and social-security laws, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has partnered with the JHWU to raise public awareness of domestic workers’ rights. 

However, employer compliance in labour standards and social protection, and widespread informality, remain pressing issues in the sector. An estimated 93 per cent of domestic workers in Jamaica are in informal work arrangements, leaving the majority without access to essential benefits such as maternity leave, sick leave with pay, or a pension upon retirement. Wages remain low, with Jamaica’s domestic workers earning only 42 per cent of what other salaried workers earn. And because they frequently work in isolation and have limited power within the employment relationship, domestic workers are highly vulnerable to violence and harassment. 

MAKING DECENT WORK A REALITY

In his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives in May, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., acknowledged the critical role that domestic workers play in Jamaican society: “They care for our children. They support our elderly. They maintain our homes and help sustain the wider economy. Yet, for far too long, many have remained outside formal recognition and protection,” he said. 

We commend the minster for publicly recognising the caregiving work performed by domestic workers, but more needs to be done to ensure that domestic work is valued and protected. 

In March, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security signed  a memorandum of understanding with the JHWU to support collaboration in training, occupational safety, and public education. As the ILO has acknowledged, skills development and professional recognition can play an important role in formalisation and promoting decent work for domestic workers, particularly when training institutes act as a point of hire for household employers. The Jamaica Household Workers Training Institute, operated by the JHWU out of the union’s office, needs a permanent physical home. With support from the Government, the nstitute can play an important role in professionalising and upskilling domestic work so that workers can better meet the care needs of Jamaican families and have better career prospects.

Furthermore, the Government must invest in building the capacity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to enforce and promote compliance with labour standards in the sector. This can be done through the creation of a domestic-work section and through public-awareness campaigns to ensure that employers and workers alike know their rights and responsibilities.

In addition, the Government should signal its seriousness about addressing gender-based violence and harassment by ratifying and implementing ILO Convention 190, the Violence and Harassment Convention. 

Finally, the National Minimum Wage must be a liveable wage that allows minimum wage earners, including domestic workers, to work and live with dignity. 

In ratifying the Domestic Workers Convention 10 years ago, Jamaica positioned itself as a regional leader in advancing decent work for domestic workers. If Jamaica is to continue to fulfill that role, the Government must take meaningful action to improve wages and working conditions in the sector while recognising that domestic workers are also care recipients who, like other Jamaicans, need access to quality public care services. 

Domestic workers cannot be a “cheap solution” to the country’s growing crisis of care. It is time to care for those who care for others. Caring for caregivers, including domestic workers, is essential to building a more equal, inclusive, and sustainable Jamaica. 

Dr Simon Black is an associate professor of Labour Studies at Brock University in Ontario, Canada; Elaine Duncan is president of the Jamaica Household Workers Union; and Shirley Pryce is secretary general of the Jamaica Household Workers Union.