Breakfast Discussion with Myrtle Witbooi
The ILO Washington Office hosted a lively discussion with Myrtle Witbooi, president of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). The event brought together representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, and the International Labor Rights Forum, among others.
On November 3, 2015, the ILO Washington Office hosted a lively discussion with Myrtle Witbooi, president of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). In her opening remarks, she looked back on 30 years as a union activist and reflected on her life at the beginning: “We were slaves in our country and had no voice.”
Ms. Witbooi began her career as a young domestic worker in apartheid South Africa in the early 1960s and in 1965 she helped convene the first ever organizational meeting of domestic workers in Cape Town. As General Secretary of SADSAWU, she fought for a national minimum wage increase for domestic workers. In 2011, Myrtle helped lead the international coalition of domestic workers that secured passage of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C. 189). She highlighted the importance and need for countries to ratify Convention 189 and commit themselves to applying the convention in national law and practice. She noted her concern that the convention includes provisions which are difficult to apply in the context of the Arab region given its cultural and social particularities. “How to break through in countries like Saudi Arabia?” she said.
Ms. Witbooi briefly touched upon the need to control recruiting agencies and their employment practices relating to migrant domestic workers. She also described the ‘My Fair Home’ campaign which focuses on the employers of domestic workers – encouraging them to personally take the My Fair Home pledge to commit to upholding the rights of domestic workers in their own homes. The campaign is a collaboration between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).
At the Q&A session, Ms. Witbooi talked about the challenges facing women in leadership, work-life balance and the importance of having a union. She stated that currently, her national union is addressing the need to expand solidarity with migrant domestic workers across borders. In response to a question on “How to work with governments?”, she emphasized the importance of working together with Labor Ministries to to enhance compliance and enforcement mechanisms, while at the same time holding them accountable for unfulfilled promises. She noted that the biggest problem domestic workers currently face is lack of enforcement due to weak labor inspection systems in most countries.
The discussion concluded with Myrtle’s advice on the way forward “We must continue to work together with the ILO.”
The event brought together representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, and the International Labor Rights Forum, among others.
Ms. Witbooi began her career as a young domestic worker in apartheid South Africa in the early 1960s and in 1965 she helped convene the first ever organizational meeting of domestic workers in Cape Town. As General Secretary of SADSAWU, she fought for a national minimum wage increase for domestic workers. In 2011, Myrtle helped lead the international coalition of domestic workers that secured passage of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C. 189). She highlighted the importance and need for countries to ratify Convention 189 and commit themselves to applying the convention in national law and practice. She noted her concern that the convention includes provisions which are difficult to apply in the context of the Arab region given its cultural and social particularities. “How to break through in countries like Saudi Arabia?” she said.
Ms. Witbooi briefly touched upon the need to control recruiting agencies and their employment practices relating to migrant domestic workers. She also described the ‘My Fair Home’ campaign which focuses on the employers of domestic workers – encouraging them to personally take the My Fair Home pledge to commit to upholding the rights of domestic workers in their own homes. The campaign is a collaboration between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).
At the Q&A session, Ms. Witbooi talked about the challenges facing women in leadership, work-life balance and the importance of having a union. She stated that currently, her national union is addressing the need to expand solidarity with migrant domestic workers across borders. In response to a question on “How to work with governments?”, she emphasized the importance of working together with Labor Ministries to to enhance compliance and enforcement mechanisms, while at the same time holding them accountable for unfulfilled promises. She noted that the biggest problem domestic workers currently face is lack of enforcement due to weak labor inspection systems in most countries.
The discussion concluded with Myrtle’s advice on the way forward “We must continue to work together with the ILO.”
The event brought together representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, and the International Labor Rights Forum, among others.