Think Global, Act Local: A Comparative Analysis of the International Labour Organization's Convention on Domestic Workers

Abstract

The International Labour Organization’s (“ILO”) Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C189) was adopted in 2011. The multilateral treaty was supposed to address the many issues that plagued the domestic work industry, establishing work standards for helpers and reducing instances of abuse. However, seven years on, domestic worker exploitation has remained, and in some countries, increased. Given the persistence of these issues, the goal of this thesis is to understand whether and how international conventions are effective in securing worker rights in order to determine how to strengthen conventions. I analyze the ILO convention through a comparative case analysis of four Filipino host countries— Italy, Canada, Hong Kong, and Israel— selecting them based on their convention ratification status and their implementation, or lack of, foreign caregiver protections. I review the countries’ domestic worker laws to see if they cover three basic areas of work standards in working time, minimum wage, and maternity benefits. In doing so, I propose two hypotheses: 1) countries that ratified the convention have better protection laws for domestic workers than countries that have not ratified; 2) other tools, such as bilateral treaties and state regime, can compensate for convention non-ratification in securing protections for domestic workers. My results support my two claims. Italy, a country that ratified the convention, has better helper protection laws than Hong Kong and Israel, countries that did not ratify. However, the fact that Canada has robust protections despite its nonratification shows that convention ratification is not the only determinant of domestic helper rights. This thesis concludes that international conventions are less effective than domestic and bilateral measures in guaranteeing domestic worker protections. Thus, I recommend strengthening agreements at the local level before pursuing multilateral treaties.