1. University of the Western Cape
Domestic Workers Empowerment Programme
Presentation to:
UWC Community Engagement Colloquium
October 2017

2. Dedicated to Michael Blake

3. Programme participant
The DWEP Model
Worker Leader
Programme participant

4. DWEP Delivery Mode
Education, Training and Research for Empowerment Building from the bottom-up

5. Rights-based Building from the bottom-up
DWEP Approach
Rights-based Building from the bottom-up

6. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Consultative
Collaborative
Empowering

7. Domestic Work Research Project (DWRP)
DWRP was initiated in January 2009 to gain a better understanding of existing problems – including shortcomings in the legislation – affecting domestic workers, and of potential solutions involving the affected workers, trade unions, and legislators national and international.

8. Domestic Work Conference 2010
Exploited, Undervalued – and Essential The Plight of Domestic Workers

9. Seminar Series 2011
Advancing Domestic Workers’ Rights In A Context Of Transformative Constitutionalism (April)
Suffering / Nurturing Globalisation: Migration and Domestic Work (May)
Strategies for Organising and Regulating Domestic Work (June)
Strategies for Organising and Regulating Domestic Work (August)
Alternatives to Neoliberalism: A view from the kitchen (September

11. Towards inclusion of South African Domestic Workers under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA)
September 2014

12. Introduction to Co-Operatives for Domestic Workers in South Africa
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Report July 2015

13. UWC-Services SETA (SSETA) partnership
DWEP
UWC-Services SETA (SSETA) partnership
2016
Domestic Workers, remain one of the mostly poorly paid and disempowered sections of the workforce. A hard to organize sector, with weak organization exposes them to numerous vulnerabilities.
The programme seeks to empower domestic workers to build their collective self-confidence through organization building within the sector.

16. DOMESTIC WORK SECTOR Legislative Framework Definition
Domestic workers and the law
Barriers to rights protection
Measures and strategies to promote decent work for domestic workers

17. Legislative Framework
BCEA and LRA
Sectoral Determination 7 (SD7) (2002)
Unemployment Insurance Act; Skills Development Act, Employment Equity Act
ILO Convention 189 & Recommendation 201 (2011)
Ratified by SA Parliament

18. Domestic Worker: Definition
“domestic worker” means an employee who performs domestic work in the home of his or her employer and includes— (a) a gardener; (b) a person employed by a household as driver of a motor vehicle; and (c) a person who takes care of children, the aged, the sick, the frail or the disabled; (d) domestic workers employed or supplied by employment services.

19. Domestic workers & the law
Domestic workers, it would seem, are well covered by the legislation. Fundamental problem: based on “standard” employment, i.t.o. content of the law as well as institutional framework through which the law is applied. Result: non-standard workers including domestic workers fall through the cracks, leaving them exposed to abuse and exploitation.

20. Barriers to rights protection
DOMESTIC WORKERS
DOMESTIC EMPLOYERS
Lack of understanding of the social and economic value of domestic work
Undervaluing of domestic work
2. Individualised nature of the employment relation
2. Lack of recognition of the employment relationship
3. Fear of losing their jobs if they complain
3. Lack of respect for the dignity of domestic workers
4. Lack of awareness of rights and obligations
4. Lack of awareness of legal requirements
5. Lack of effective organisation
5. Perception that enforcement is ineffective, therefore no need to comply

21. What measures to promote decent work for domestic workers?
A strategy for empowerment of domestic workers
could be envisaged as a concerted effort by trade unions, academic institutions, international development agencies and NGOs, with the support of the DoL, to research and develop a programme capable of reaching the majority of domestic workers.

22. Strategies to promote decent work for domestic workers?
Regulation: objective of regulation in the domestic employment sector, as in other sectors, is to develop a culture of compliance - where compliance is the norm for employers and workers.
Empowerment of marginalised workers, is important not only from a trade union perspective; it is part of the bigger picture of transformation envisaged by the Constitution.
Awareness raising about minimum standards for employers, workers and the public at large

23. Regulation of decent work for domestic workers ?
The common aim should be to ensure that, through legislative and policy development,
Full effect is given to C189
The contribution of domestic workers to the national economy is recognised
Obstacles to the enjoyment of domestic workers’ basic rights are systematically identified and addressed, and
The lessons of international best practice are incorporated in law and practice.

24. Organising for Empowerment
Organisation that enables domestic workers to:
Understand their position and identify challenges
Be knowledgeable about their rights in law as workers and citizens
Be knowledgeable about recourse to challenge violations of their rights
Articulate demands for change
Develop appropriate forms of organisation for pursuing those demands

25. NEXT STEPS

26. PLATFORM CO-OPERATIVE PROJECT SA
Research and development for a worker-owned platform for precarious workers

27. Purpose
The purpose of the project is to develop a generic model for a cooperative organisation of worked based on an electronic platform owned and used by the workers to market their services and/or or products on their own terms while at the same time developing their professional and organisational skills, deepening their understanding of their social context and providing for collective access to the services which they require. The model is also referred to below as a ‘work collective’.

28. Project Stages Developing a conceptual model of a work collective;
Developing a generic online platform;
Developing an organisational model;
Developing a specification of services to be offered (products to be produced).

29. Thank you!