Govt, union spar over rights of domestic workers

Bengaluru: A meeting between the Labour Department and the Domestic Workers Rights Union on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes as both sides failed to reach a consensus regarding enforcing minimum wages for domestic workers.

The meeting was called to discuss enforcing a monthly minimum wage of Rs 19,517 for every domestic worker who works 8 hours a day for 6 days a week.

Talks began amicably with Labour Minister Santosh Lad assuring the union that they would endeavour to increase the 1 lakh death and accident compensation (introduced during his tenure) to Rs 5 lakh within the remaining three-and-a-half-year tenure of the Congress government.

Officials also noted that 3.11 lakh cards had been created for domestic workers under the unorganised sector welfare board.

However, talks escalated when the union’s joint secretary Geetha Menon sought a separate welfare board for investigations from the department for domestic workers.

Dismissing this demand, the minister said: “If a board is formed solely for domestic workers, the other 393 professions under the unorganised sector would also ask for similar boards. It’s very difficult for us to create separate boards. Also, there’s nothing much we can do them apart from what we are doing already.”

When Menon asked for routine inquiries by the department into disputes between house owners and domestic workers, Lad ruled out the possibility, adding that investigations were impossible without complaints from the domestic workers.

With neither side willing to concede, the minister even wondered how the union could claim to represent the three-lakh-strong domestic workers’ community. With the union asked to submit further points in writing, Menon noted that their demands included mandating four leaves per month to each worker.

Speaking to DH, Lad clarified that though separate measures for individual sectors were not possible, all complaints against women workers would be seriously looked into.