Domestic workers, recognised as a large segment in the informal economy, have united to secure their rights with a campaign to pressure the government to include them in labour laws. 

About 70 member-based organisations of the informal sector launched a campaign collectively — Ratify International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 177 and Give Justice to Domestic Workers. Domestic workers from 13 districts have gathered here to launch the campaign, said Tilak Jung Khadka, general secretary of a non-governmental organisation Class-Nepal, which is facilitating the move. 

It is believed that about 2.2 million domestic workers are engaged as labour contributing to the Nepali economy, but there is no formal count. “We have asked the Central Bureau of Statistics to include domestic workers in the forthcoming Labour Force Survey, said president of Nepal Handicraft and Embroidery Workers’ Association Tej Prasad Rijal. 

According to him, domestic workers are centred in the periphery of towns and work for low wages. . 

“We have launched the campaign to make people aware about the informal sector and get policy makers to include them in labour laws,” said president of Nepal Home-based Workers’ Association Bindu Shrestha. The campaign will organise over a dozen activities across the country to raise awareness at the grassroot level for a year. Then we focus on policy advocacy, she said. 

Trade unions that had ignored the informal sector also promised to help with the campaign. “Currently, we are working for 1.7 million organised sector workers but gradually we are reaching out to the informal sectors also,” said Senior Vice-president of Nepal Trade Union Congress Ramji Kunwar. Our trade union will take it in a separate wing and help to fight for basic labour rights, he added. 

The government has also started a project to bring the informal sector in the labour laws net under a Japan government supported project. The project aims to include identified informal sectors and include them in the new draft of Labour Act.

Published on: 5 February 2013 | The Himalayan Times