The second thematic meeting planned in the context of work initiated by the ILO Office for Turkey to secure rights and decent work conditions for domestic workers was held online on 27 April 2022 with the participation of relevant stakeholders.

The second technical meeting of the Information and Awareness-Raising Campaign launched in June 2021 and scheduled to culminate in June 2022 under the “More and Better Jobs for Women Programme” implemented by the ILO Office for Turkey with funding from Sweden was held with the theme “Access to Decent Work and Work Conditions for Domestic Workers” with the participation of representatives from social partners, academia, public agencies, and civil society.

At the meeting moderated by Ms. Ebru Özberk Anlı, Senior Programme Officer, and Ms. Ayşe Emel Akalın, Gender and Social Dialogue Officer at ILO Office for Turkey, quantitative data on domestic workers employed in Turkey were shared with participants as computed by the ILO Office for Turkey based on current statistics, and the roles of Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) and private employment agencies were addressed in the recruitment process of domestic workers. Participants also shared good practices from the world on domestic workers’ access to jobs, remuneration, working hours and leave, and job descriptions in line with the Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, and labour unions of domestic works offered recommendations for solutions to the current problems.

Speaking at the meeting, Ms. Hatice Ayhan, Chair of Women’s Committee of Hizmet-Is Union, shared the union’s demands and proposals to improve the working conditions of domestic workers, and noted that their demands included the ratification of ILO Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Ms. Gülhan Benli, President of Domestic Workers Solidarity Union (EVID-SEN), stated that they drafted a model contract that covered all matters including working hours, violence and harassment, occupational safety and health to address the problems of domestic workers, and said: “I call everyone to evaluate the draft document.”

“A domestic worker must be considered a worker”

“Domestic workers are still not considered workers, and this blocks our advance. Domestic work is work, and a domestic worker is a worker. Legislation is needed on domestic workers. We cannot conclude collective agreements, and as a labour union, we are no more than an association.”

“C189 Domestic Workers Convention must be ratified”

Ms. Minire İnal of IMECE Domestic Workers Union said: “A construction worker is considered a worker even if s/he works a day, but domestic workers are not even if they work 30 days a month. They have no occupational safety and health. C189 Domestic Workers Convention must be urgently ratified and implemented.”

“Working conditions of domestic workers are far from being decent”

According to the up-to-date statistical information on domestic workers in Turkey computed by Mr. Luis Pinedo Caro, Research Expert at ILO Office for Turkey, based on the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), 1,262,471 households in Turkey demand domestic work, and most domestic workers (80%) work informally. In addition, the working conditions of domestic workers are far from being decent, and the progress in the rate of formally employed domestic workers has almost stalled.

Addressing the role of ISKUR’s role in job search and placement of domestic workers, Mr. Koray Alper Akdemir, employment expert from the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR), provided information on the occupational matching system of ISKUR, noting that the system included 7,000 occupations and domestic workers were able to select up to six occupations.

“Private employment agencies have different specialties”

Referring to the relation of ISKUR with private employment agencies, Mr. Akdemir stated that ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) and Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No. 198) encouraged cooperation between public and private employment agencies for employing domestic workers, and private agencies’ mediation. He added that there were 572 private employment agencies in the country which specialized in various areas such as focusing exclusively on employing white collar workers or on domestic workers.

Mr. Vural Şeker, President of Istanbul Association of Private Employment Agencies, provided information on the role of private employment agencies in recruitment of domestic workers, and they endeavoured to obtain as much information as possible from domestic worker candidates to accurately match them with jobs.

“Both domestic workers and prospective employers lack adequate information of their rights”

“Families usually want to have experienced domestic workers. When it comes to social rights, they prefer those who do not demand social rights” said Mr. Şeker and added: “We want to recruit those registered with ISKUR. Both domestic workers and prospective employers lack adequate information of rights and obligations, and they should be informed.

Mr. Şeker also drew attention to the fact that informally operating private employment agencies and networks caused domestic workers to work informally.

“Strengthening the labour unions of domestic workers is the key to solving problems”

Dr. Ceyhun Güler, Lecturer at Dokuz Eylül University of Izmir, briefly dwelled on the problems of domestic workers and proposals for solutions, and provided information on good practices, from the countries which ratified C189, in the fields of legislation, remuneration standards, working hours and paid leave, model contracts, occupational safety and health, association, cooperativization, violence and harassment, and right of collective bargaining and agreement.

Dr. Güler said: “Strengthening the labour unions of domestic workers is the key to solving problems”.

New brochure on C189 was launched

At the meeting, the brochure on “ILO Convention No. 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers” produced by ILO Office for Turkey with contributions from Dr. Güler to ensure decent conditions for domestic workers in line with C189 was introduced and distributed to participants.