Did you know that the Government has agreed in the Council of Ministers to ratify Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on decent work for domestic workers and send it to the Cortes Generales to begin the process of regularization of the standard? We tell you everything in this new People blog post.
The struggle of this group has been arduous to get to the point where it is now and is closer to being able to collect unemployment benefits, since the Government has agreed in the Council of Ministers to ratify the Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) about him Decent work for domestic workers, where this claim is recognized, and send it to the Cortes Generales to begin the process of regularization of the norm.
ILO Convention 189 regulates the Equal treatment of domestic employees with the rest of the working people, ensuring for them breaks, vacations and the right to protection against unemployment. Convention 189 came into force in 2013 and since then, USO (Unión Sindical Obrera) has requested the Government of Spain to adhere to it to dignify domestic employment. In recent years, the especially harsh conditions in the sector have condemned these employees to precariousness. Furthermore, since 2020, due to the pandemic, there have been critical moments in which many people found themselves without employment and without any type of protection, while many others suffered situations of violence and coercion, thus affecting the economic situation of thousands of families in Spain.
With the ratification of this agreement in the Cortes Generales, the first step will be taken in the adaptation of labor regulations which has recently been classified as discriminatory by the justice system when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considered in a ruling published in February that the employment regime of domestic workers is contrary to the law. community for not recognizing the right to unemployment for this group, made up almost exclusively of women (more than 9 out of 10), which represents a indirect discrimination based on sex.
This ruling came as a result of a consultation by a court in Vigo, which immediately recognized the right of a Galician worker to contribute for her work, and therefore, to receive unemployment benefits. With this milestone, a halo of hope was achieved for the sector that has traditionally been invisible and undervalued. In Spain, more than 85% of people who do domestic work are women, (data from Equality in the Company newsletter, March 2020 of the Women's Institute) which is why there are references to feminine in the documentation related to this topic as a visibility measure.
In the words of Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labor: “It is a question of justice, and something more: the fulfillment of our commitments and the confirmation that the path of labor rights, undertaken by this Government, will never again leave behind the domestic workers.”
With this resolution, the group of domestic employees would be equated with the rest of the workers in terms of labor protection, which would allow them to collect unemployment benefits once their activity has concluded, something that the General Social Security Law ( LGSS) does not allow up to now. But it is not only about the right to collect unemployment benefits, the ratification of ILO Convention 189 by Spain means that the State is committed to ensuring the rights of domestic employees. Among these rights are:
- Protection against harassment, abuse and violence at work
- The right to receive written working conditions
- Control of hours of presence
- Control the legality of the salary for maintenance and accommodation
- Guarantee health and safety conditions at work
- Guarantee the minimum wage; include the activity in the PRL Law, and
- The right to unemployment benefits.
According to data from the Ministry of Social Security, in March 2022, 378,466 people were registered in the Special System for Domestic Employees. These people are working without any recognition and in an underground manner.
The TGSS launches a new information campaign which reminds us that those who provide services for less than 60 hours per month per employer can directly apply for Social Security affiliation. This self-processing is used to manage registrations, cancellations and variations when agreed upon with the employer or several people in the event that one works for more than one person. The worker will receive a text message or SMS to his or her mobile phone number, as long as it is associated with it, with which it appears in the database or, otherwise, an email every time the employer carries out procedures such as modifications to your contract.
If this is not the case, the interested person must access their Personal Area from the Import@ss platform to review the contact information and verify that they are correct, so that any changes can be communicated to them by these means.
There is still a long way to go, but it is undoubtedly a great step towards the recognition of the rights of this group that has been silenced for years. Thus begins a new scenario that will entail a legislative change for the benefit of the sector, leaving the unknown of what will happen to the thousands of people who are still unregularized in this sector.
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