Domestic Workers
80% of worldwide domestic employees are women and many of whom are on irregular or informal contracts, have been severely affected by the pandemic. Despite being “at the frontlines” of COVID-19, they are rarely part of COVID-19 response plans. This is especially pronounced for women of colour, migrant women, disabled women and working class women.
How can we make sure their situation/rights/needs are taken into account?
4. shahrar Ali 85 wc
Decades-long health inequalities impacting the poorest and migrant population of this country must be overcome and the spotlight of Black Lives Matter campaigns should be used to push for institutional transformation. I would demand immediate publication of the full report of the causes of the disproportionate number of people of colour left exposed to contamination and death in the NHS and residential care homes. I would lend my support to those who wish to see that all the recommendations from that report be fully implemented.
4. Andrea Carey Fuller 25wc
– By working in collaboration with Unions that represent them e.g. Unison, GMB etc and organisations they have set up to support themselves like:
https://www.thevoiceofdomesticworkers.com/
4. cleo lake 17 wc
Encourage them to join unions and work with unions or work with unions and then do outreach.
4. Amelia Womack 76 wc
Women have been disproportionately affected by moves towards zero hours contracts and other casual arrangements in industries where salaries were already too low and workers are undervalued. We must fight to ensure that women – especially women of colour, migrant women, disabled women and working class women – have union representation, fair pay, decent contracts, employment rights and opportunities for career progression. We also need to end the current situation where women are underrepresented on boards.
4. Rosie Sexton 125wc
The lack of employment rights and access to full sick pay for many workers in insecure employment has really been highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis, and this is certainly true for domestic workers. As Greens, we’re of course campaigning for a Universal Basic Income, which would be a significant step to better security for these workers. Until that becomes a reality, we should be pushing for better statutory sick pay that means workers are not disadvantaged or having to worry about paying their bills if they have to take time off when sick. With the Test and Trace programmes in operation, we must push for people to be appropriately compensated if they are asked to isolate because they’ve been in contact with someone with COVID.
4. sian Berry & jonathan bartley 201 wc
Early in the crisis we were both vocal in calling out the huge problems that would occur if any support scheme for workers was run by employers, and calling for a universal basic income approach to be taken instead. We could already see the disproportionate impact on women, BAME and young people if more casual or small-scale employers did not take part. Jonathan has for a long time been working on the problems faced by precarious workers in the gig economy and their lack of representation by unions, and has worked on a number of campaigns with the IWGB union which is trying to fix this. The problem is even more acute in sectors like domestic and care work where women dominate.
At the end of June, as part of a project led by Jonathan to work with campaigners and NGOs to amplify their demands and produce a set of solutions to the crisis that leaves no-one behind or destitute, we published Whatever it Takes, and this way of working is something we want to see at all levels of the party to make sure those who are slipping through gaps get our support. You can read the demands here: https://medium.com/@TheGreenParty/whatever-it-takes-60091678a239