English transcript of interview:
“I started fighting for domestic workers’ rights in the ‘80s. In 1983 I started participating in the movement. It was a small group that got together in a school building. I found out about this group through a radio programme, that’s when I joined the group. This group turned into an association of domestic workers in ‘88, because before we could not become a trade union, before the Constitution of 1988. So we started organizing ourselves as a group and then as an association. With the 1988 Constitution we gained the right to organize ourselves as a trade union, so the association turned into a trade union.
What motivated me to be part of this movement was the inequality, the discrimination, the lack of rights. I used to get very angry that I did not get any Sundays or bank holidays off, that I did not received any pay, and also the mistreatment, the lack of respect at the work place. That’s what led me to join my colleagues and organize ourselves.
Brazilian domestic workers are reaching 73 years of organized activity in Brazil. But regarding the visibility of domestic work as an issue, it has become more visible since President Lula came to power. When President Lula was elected, we, as an organization, as the national federation and trade union, we decided to ask for several meetings with various ministries of the federal government, the ministry of labour, the ministry of the presidency, the ministry for women’s affairs, for racial affairs, through them we have achieved a policy of affirmative action, as well as public policies for training and increasing education for domestic workers in Brazil. We were also able to get a housing policy, something that had never happened before at the federal government level, a housing policy for domestic workers. In some states they are already building houses for domestic workers. Another issue was the visibility of child labour, this was very important. Through the ILO we were able to give visibility to children in domestic work, something that was never talked about before. In 2008, President Lula signed the law that prohibits child labour until the age of 18.
The ILO is fundamental in changing the mentality, the customs of certain countries, and Brazil is no exception. Through ILO Conventions, it is possible to go before national and international instances to revert a situation of violence against this or that domestic worker. For us it is very important that there is an international organization, a convention, that says that a domestic worker has the same rights as any other worker, so the ILO is certainly important. The ILO was important in dealing with children in domestic work and it will be important in changing the laws of Brazil.
Look, the crisis, by affecting the world and Brazil, by affecting workers in other sectors, also affects domestic workers, because it is people working in those other sectors who employ domestic workers. So if my employer is affected by the crisis, and his work is affected by the crisis, it is obvious that my work as a domestic worker will also be affected. Why? Because when the employer runs into salary difficulties, the first thing that he cuts is the domestic worker at home.”
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