NERDWM urges Central government to implement Convention 189

A CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG, June 16: The North Eastern Regiol Domestic Workers’ Movement (NERDWM) Meghalaya Region celebrated the Intertiol Domestic Workers’ Day on Tuesday. On this occasion, a rally was also taken out from St. Anthony’s Stadium to Malki Ground in the capital city of Shillong.
The NERDWM demanded the union government to protect the rights of domestic workers through a Comprehensive tiol Legislation for Domestic Workers and also to ratify the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
It may be mentioned that the Convention recognizes the significant contribution or domestic workers to the global economy and affirms that they must have same basic labour rights as those available to other workers. It invites the member states to respect and ensure effective promotion and protection of the human rights of all domestic workers with respect to freedom of association, collective bargaining, decent working conditions and protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and violence, social security, benefits, access to courts and tribuls etc.
Speaking on the occasion, programme coorditor of NERDWM Wanpynhun Kharsyntiew said, “This is a day celebrated as the Intertiol Domestic Workers’ Day after the intertiol Labour Conference at the 100th Intertiol Labour Conference adopted a Convention supplemented by a recommendation on Decent Work for Domestic Workers on June 16, 2011.”
Kharsyntiew also informed that the Indian Government had also voted in favor of this convention and so far there are about twenty-one countries that have adopted and implemented the Convention 189 and thus recognized the role of domestic workers to the economy.
According to a survey report right from 2003 she said that five thousand domestic workers have come forward and register with the organization till date and there are over twenty thousand Domestic Workers in Shillong.
“We have seen cases that an employer’s themselves will come and drop their domestic helpers at our Organization after they have become pregnt and when we take them to the hospital for D test in most cases the employer is the father of the baby”, she said adding that there is no law to protect them till date and only the inclusion of Domestic Workers under Schedule of Minimum wages act can give them some relief.