Professionalising domestic work and the relations between domestic workers and their employers, through organising and institution building, SEWA-Kerala has been able to effect significant changes in the working conditions of domestic workers, including benefits such as paid leave. Nalini Nayak describes the struggles and successes of SEWA-Kerala in building solidarity among and ensuring decent treatment for women domestic workers.

SEWA-Kerala was registered in 1986 and its members affiliated to the National SEWA Trade Union in 1990. Subsequently, it was registered as a trade union in Kerala in 2008, remaining an affiliate of the National SEWA union, which has since also been recognised as a Central Trade Union.

Origins of SEWA-Kerala

Women workers from other sectors that depended on natural resources were losing access to raw material for their livelihood. For instance, fish vendors were losing access to fish for sale because of the centralisation of fish landing at distant harbours; women reed workers were losing access to reeds that were allotted at cheaper rates to the paper companies; and agricultural workers were losing wage work with the conversion of paddy land for housing or other land to cash crops. They were looking for work, and the domestic sphere seemed the only option because they had no other skills. The initiative to organise SEWA was taken by a small group of women, including Aleyamma Vijayan and the author, who also worked in trade unions; the main objective was to see that women workers, who moved into the domestic sphere, retained their identity as workers and remained visible in the workforce so that they too would get their rights.

The group brought the women workers together. Some of them were already working as maids. Others had not left their villages but were clamoring for work either because they were mothers managing the family single-handed or had drunken husbands, who squandered all the earnings. The idea of bringing them together was to professionalise domestic services such as caring for the sick and old, assisting in the post-natal care of women and looking after babies and children. The group of women workers created their own organisation-the Self Employed Women`s Association, SEWA, in order to undertake work on a collective and organised basis.

Although the women were reluctant initially, the first group of 20 agreed to undertake a short training of 15 days in caring for the sick. Discussions were held on organisational aspects. Building solidarity among women workers at the local level was the main focus, with a slow yet steady awakening of feminist and worker consciousness. Wages were also discussed. To start with, in those days in Thiruvananthapuram, it was Rs 500 a day, which was very high compared to the prevailing levels. The women, however, went to work in uniforms and donning the SEWA badge. They were punctual; the clients were informed of the rules; and payment was centralised. There was a weekly off. Women, who lived at a great distance from the city, worked on a full-time basis; others, who could go to work on time without spending too much on transport, went on a daily basis. SEWA offered both services.

The group rented a room with a telephone and one of them, manned the `office` and distributed notices about SEWA at the local hospitals. The first 20 women got jobs immediately. Seeing this, other women lined up for the training and very soon the numbers grew and there was immediate employment.

Over the years, the services also multiplied. Women were trained to run canteens and SEWA now runs several institutional canteens. Women also clean offices. A specialised service for the 40-day post-natal ayurvedic care of mother and child has also been developed. A housemaid service was introduced only a few years ago because of the demand. For all services, there is a regular supervision by the office, in order to handle various issues that crop up at the workplace.

Benefits as a Result of Collective Action

SEWA was then registered as a membership organisation and, gradually, its working was streamlined. After a few years, the members began to work towards a contributory provident fund (PF). Initially, this was very small and was handled within the organisation. After a few years, however, SEWA was able to convince clients that this was a worker`s due; thereafter, PF was contributed on a daily basis-Rs 5 from the client and Rs 5 from the member/worker. Members can take loans, depending on their own contributions to the PF. Some of the members opted to join the SEWA Bima Yojana, or health insurance scheme, by putting Rs 1,000 of their PF into a fixed deposit that pays the annual premium. Hospitalisation and medicines are covered by this. It has also a death by accident insurance cover.

Similarly, as the service charge collected by the organisation has grown, it is able to provide 10 days paid leave a year for a certain number of workers each year. This is given on priority, based on the number of days each person has worked. Other services such as training, seminars and children`s camps for members` children are also being organised. The full member general body meets once a year.

Spokes in the Wheel

Undertaking work collectively and living up to the professional requirements of the service are not always smooth sailing or easy. Women workers, who are usually mothers as well, have several pressures, both from husbands and children, and this tells on the work. On the other hand, the demands and behaviour of clients, who feel they have the right to extract work because they pay for it, are the other problems. There have not been any cases of abuse, except two, in all these years and these were handled appropriately. The client knows that the women belong to an organisation and just as they feel confident to trust the workers of the organisation, they also know the workers have an organisational backing and cannot be exploited. The members of SEWA have also become very wise because they bring their issues to the office and these are attended to promptly.

Building Workers` Solidarity

The primary aim of this organisational process is to build solidarity among women workers. The members meet every month in their local areas and discuss various issues and act on them, if necessary. There are regular seminars, in which the more active women participate; this is an opportunity for them to grow. Now that SEWA is recognised as a trade union in Kerala, it has a membership of other kinds of workers as well. In a highly politicised state like Kerala, where workers` unions are widespread, the focus of SEWA is to make the women workers` issues visible on the labour front because these are usually not taken up by other unions.

Legal Protection

About five years ago, SEWA-Kerala submitted a draft bill for domestic workers to the Labour Secretary. This was also because, after SEWA commenced, `supplying domestic labour` became a `business` for many. But whereas these labour contractors, several of them women, register their enterprises, they also exploit the women workers and come under no scrutiny. The women workers are at their mercy. Hence, it is very important that the state legislates and ensures that the women workers, who work in the domestic sphere, get legal protection. Only now has a Bill been taken up by the central government and we assume that there will soon be one in Kerala. The Bill must also legislate on the role of such labour contractors while seeing that the workers get their due as workers. Kerala has already scheduled domestic work and notified the minimum wage.

Some state governments have already passed Acts for domestic workers and several of them are in the process of doing so. This is because domestic workers have begun to organise themselves all over the country and raise their demands.

The International Labour Conference 2010 will be discussing Standards of Decent Work for Domestic Workers and the need for a Convention or Recommendation. SEWA votes for a Convention because this will be binding on the government. Of course, such a Convention has to be ratified by a certain number of countries in order to be binding. Whereas this is important and necessary, such ratification will only take place if trade unions and governments also understand the importance of binding regulations vis-à-vis the particular worker constituency. Because a majority of the domestic workers are women and the work space is the home, mainstream trade unions, which have hitherto developed theories only for workers in the organised sector, do not see the urgency of developing new legislative frameworks for changing the labour scenario and seeing the private sphere of the home as a workplace. This is also one of the reasons that the Convention on Home Based Workers has not yet been ratified by India. Unions such as SEWA and organisations such as the International Labour Organisation need to interact more extensively with unions all over the country so that this awareness is raised and the Indian government is made to acknowledge this as a demand from the entire labour congress of the country.