Labor Party plans to submit an agreement on recognizing unemployment for domestic workers to the next Council of Ministers

The time has come: the Ministry of Labor plans to submit the 189th ILO Convention on Domestic Workers to the next Council of Ministers. On Tuesday, April 5, the government is expected to offer Spain ratification of this international agreement, which requires equal working conditions for domestic workers on other key issues, such as the right to unemployment, the historical requirement of a group of workers. And this has just received the support of the European justice system.

“If all goes well, Spain will send ratification of the 189th WTO Convention to Cortes Generales in the next Council of Ministers, which meets one of the biggest demands in our country,” said Yolanda Dias, second vice president and labor minister. During a meeting with the media in Brazil. Ministry of Labor sources confirm that the idea, if not unforeseen, is that the first formal step for ratification will be taken next Tuesday.

The 189th International Labor Organization Convention dates back to 2011 and covers a range of labor and social protection rights that signatory countries must provide for domestic labor, mainly by women, and which “continues to be valued and invisible”. The preamble recalls.

The agreement requires the expansion of labor rights

Ratification of this International Regulation requires that measures be taken to “eliminate discrimination in employment and occupation” and that “domestic workers enjoy conditions no less favorable than those of workers in general in terms of the protection of the safety of society”.

These two issues are very relevant because of the practical implications they may have for domestic workers in Spain. They clearly imply recognition of the right to collective unemployment, from which they are currently excluded, and which the Court of Justice of the European Union has found to imply indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex.

But, in addition, this obligation to end collective discrimination “in terms of employment and occupation” may have an impact on other historical claims of domestic workers. As well as the disappearance of an unreasonable release formula, which also has a cheaper release compensation than the rest; Lack of access to Fogasa to protect workers in the event of unpaid wages and compensation; And social security contributions to their effective wages, among others.

Cortes and waiting for unemployment to be regulated

During her visit to Brazil, Yolanda Diaz warned that the 189 agreement applies to “the most vulnerable women workers” and stressed that “nothing has been done in this agreement for more than ten years” as it dates back to 2011. Once approved by the Council of Ministers. , It is sent to Congress, which must support ratification. When the courts give the green light, the executive notifies the WTO of compliance with the agreement.

“Finally, I think he will see the light of day very soon, hence the great satisfaction,” the minister said, noting that the government’s plans were “hampered by a pandemic” at the beginning of his term. , In 2020. The coalition agreement between the PSOE and United We Can included the ratification and culmination of Convention 189 “as a matter of priority” for the full integration of domestic workers into the general social security scheme “.

The ratification of Convention 189 finally reached the middle of the coalition mandate, which meant “extra time” for groups of domestic workers. Diaz argues that the proposal to ratify the agreement “has two parts”, one from the Ministry of Labor, the other from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as “many bureaucratic procedures”. One of the last, the approval of the State Council, is “already completed”, so the Ministry plans to transfer the statute to the Council of Ministers on April 5.

Beyond ratification of the treaty, now the biggest challenge is regulating the right to unemployment that Labor has announced for 2022. The labor minister said he would end “other discrimination,” including dismissal. . The CCOO trade union this week called for the immediate opening of a social dialogue table for labor and social security to address these issues. Workers ’teams were mobilized last week and Tuesday, International Labor Day, to demand immediate legislation on these rights.