Domestic Workers: Educate, Organise, Agitate!

Avani Chokshi

The situation of domestic workers in India reflects the cumulative failures of various laws to provide any real relief to the sector and points to the urgent need for more unionisation. 

Lok Sabha discussions from 2020 show the number of domestic workers in 2011-12 to be 39 lakhs (of which 13 lakhs are male and 26 lakhs are female). However, these numbers are far from reality, and the sector has burgeoned even further. These workers are primarily from marginalised communities, and due to lack of proper regulation, they are often forced to work in several households every day. Reports from Bangalore show that as many as 75% belong to the Scheduled Caste communities, and totally 98% fall within the SC/ST/OBC categories.  The domestic workers are subject to feudal and casteist discriminatory practices, including the use of separate plates and glasses, not being permitted to use the toilet, being made to sit on the ground, etc. 

Far from having the benefit of a special legislation, domestic workers have managed to skirt the edges of a large number of labour laws. Not having been considered productive workers, they face a number of issues ranging from lack of social security to trafficking and sexual abuse.  In 2019, the Ministry of Labour and Employment spoke of formulation of a National Policy on Domestic Workers to ensure grievance redressal, regulation of placement agencies, protection from abuse and exploitation, right to form unions, access to minimum wages and social security, etc. However, the same never materialised. Even before this, in 2016, a Private Member’s Bill termed the ‘Domestic Workers Welfare Bill, 2016’ was introduced in Lok Sabha, but has not been passed. While a number of labour laws for the benefit of organised workers such as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, would not apply to this category of workers, it is useful to see how other laws cover this sector. 

1. Minimum Wages: As per the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, minimum wages are payable only to those categories of work that are specified in the Schedule. Some states, including Karnataka, have notified minimum wages payable to domestic workers. Though the law allows for inspections at any place of employment, labour inspectors are reluctant to invade the so-called sanctity of a private household, and on ground, notified minimum wages are never paid. Workers work in multiple houses to even earn subsistence wages. 
2. Social Security: As a sector, domestic workers have to work well into old age due to lack of social security. They do fall within the ambit of the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008. However, this law does not provide any direct benefit to unorganised workers and instead, only requires workers to be registered. Registration process is also arduous, and unions in Bangalore have even been forced to approach court in respect of the failure of the Government to register workers. After, registration, the benefit is only as per the schemes that the government is supposed to frame. As on date, there is no specific scheme for the benefit of domestic workers in Karnataka, though a relief amount of Rs. 2000/- was released to them as COVID relief fund. So, too, under the new Code on Social Security, 2020, which is yet to be implemented, domestic workers are treated as ‘wage workers’, which is a sub category of unorganised workers. However, the treatment given to this category of workers under the new labour codes is the same as under the 2008 Act: no statutory benefits at all except for what is provided at the mercy of the government in discretionary schemes it may choose to formulate and bring into force. 
3. Sexual Harassment: Domestic workers, as a sector, are especially vulnerable to sexual harassment and rape. They work in isolation in dwelling places. Since the perpetrator of sexual harassment is often the employer, raising the issue becomes difficult, and the worker has nowhere to turn. In fact, the law explicitly includes domestic workers within its ambit, and recognizes dwelling places and houses as falling under the ambit of the term ‘workplace’. As per the Sexual Harassment (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, these workers can raise their grievances regarding sexual harassment to the Local Committee. However, especially in Karnataka, these committees have been constituted but are not functional, and do not respond to the complaints that are made. 
4. Migrant workers and trafficking: A number of migrant workers are brought to urban centres to perform domestic work by unregulated placement agencies. These workers have no contact, let alone any support structures, with anyone except the agency. The law on interstate migrant workers is not implemented in fact and the workers are denied of the mandatory documentation regarding work and workplace, such as migrant worker passbook. Several houses employ adolescent girls as full-time workers, and such workers are often the victim of trafficking and bonded labour with no way out. In this situation, it is through the intervention of unions and NGOs that some workers have been rescued and rehabilitated. The law abolishing bonded labour is not implemented. 

It is clear that despite the various issues faced by domestic workers, there is lack of adequate legal regulation. It may be kept in mind that the International Labour Organisation has adopted Convention No. 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers in the 100th annual session of the International Labour Conference, which is widely known as Domestic Workers Convention, 2011. The Convention provides for hours of work, leave, maternity benefit, minimum wages, etc. It also speaks of elimination of forced labour, child labour and discrimination.  

As seen above, the lack of a sector specific law is only the tip of the iceberg in respect of this sector. Despite falling within the ambit of a number of general laws, the rights provided by them remain only on paper. Through education to understand existing benefits, through organisation to give workers collective strength and through agitation against exploitative employers and to tackle feudal practices, the dignity and autonomy of domestic workers can be reclaimed!