Mexican domestic workers are fighting for their rights

by Martina Žoldoš

When Gemma Bolás Amador, a small and shy woman of 55, started working for a middle-class family in the Mexican city of Puebla, the agreement seemed to be clear: she would clean the house twice a week, arriving in the mornings to sweep and mop the floors, dusting shelves and wiping down the windows, and leaving when the work was done. Two other domestic workers would be responsible for the rest of the household chores.

This division of labor functioned well for a few months. Then, the family decided to reduce their expenses, firing one woman and distributing tasks between the remaining two; the other worker was fired as well, and Gemma was left with all the housework. Now, besides sweeping and mopping, Gemma had to wash clothes and dishes, iron and cook—and all for the same salary. Initially, she accepted the new terms, for fear of losing the job altogether, but the burden was too heavy to bear. “I finished the day exhausted and with enormous tachycardia," she remembered, referring to a drastically elevated heart rate. "So every time I ended up running straight to the doctor.” Without any health insurance, Gemma spent her whole salary on check-ups and medicine. Finally, she listened to her medic’s warnings and quit the job.

Gemma is far from the only woman with this kind of working experience. According to the National Institute for Statistics and Geography, 11 percent of all working women in Mexico perform some kind of domestic labor for payment. These workers are among the most vulnerable in the country: according to the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination (Conapred), domestic laborers, a third of whom receive less than the legal minimum wage, regularly work more than 12 hours a day without breaks. One in five starts working when they are younger than 15 years old, and 98 percent don't have access to medical services.

There are two organizations in the country fighting to improve the situation of domestic workers and the respect of their labor rights. The Center for Support and Capacitation of Domestic Employees (CACEH), which was founded 20 years ago, and Sinactraho, a recently created national union for domestic workers, provide training, legal counseling, education and support services to domestic employees in Mexico City and other states. Every two weeks they organize group meetings in local parks where the workers gather to learn about labor rights and discrimination, as well as how to effectively negotiate with employers for better working conditions and higher salary. CACEH and Sinactraho are also organizing campaigns targeting employers, pressuring them to sign a collective agreement to respect domestic workers' rights. In collaboration with museums and art centers, educational institutions and human rights activists, and journalists and investigators, CACEH and Sinactraho have spread the message by shooting documentaries, television spots and short internet videos and by organizing public forums, press conferences and cultural events such as movie projections and photography expositions.

Mariela Hernández González, a domestic worker and Sinactraho’s former Secretary for Communication and International Affairs points out that the systematic labor rights violations are the result of several factors. When women are perceived as natural-born housekeepers and caregivers, domestic work isn’t recognized as a real job. Because domestic labor doesn't require formal education or training, it’s not properly valued; what is more, the working environment is a private house with no legally binding contract and professional rules.

Gemma has been cleaning houses since she was eight years old, but she has never signed a contract with any of her numerous employers. So when an employer arbitrarily decides to change the initial working conditions, there is little she can do. This is common: only two percent of domestic workers sign written contracts defining their rights, duties, tasks, working hours and salary, according to Conapred. The lack of legal documents often creates situations where women are obliged to comply with almost every demand of their employers which can lead to egregious exploitation.

To address this, CACEH and Sinactraho started a job placement service that connects workers with employers who agree to respect labor rights. “When an employer contacts the organization in search of a worker, it always emphasizes the necessity of signing a contract,'' Hernández González said. Sometimes a worker that’s already in a working relationship reaches out for help after she had proposed to sign the agreement and the employer accepted.

Sinactraho provides two collective agreements: one for workers residing in the house they work in and another for those who work in one or more households. Both agreements define the exact tasks that the worker would perform, schedule and salary, number of paid vacation days and mandatory rest days, and a Christmas bonus. The contract also prohibits the employment of minors. “If the employer in any moment demands the execution of tasks unspecified in the contract, the worker has the right to turn him or her down,” explained Hernández González. At the same time, the contract protects the employer from the nonfulfillment of worker’s duties, she adds.

Sinactraho encourages the employer and the employee to resolve any conflict or alleged contract violation by themselves, but if the two parties can’t reach an agreement, they approach the union’s secretary of work and social prevention, who acts as a legal mediator. So far, the union has only had to intervene once: when a worker and the employer couldn’t agree on the payment of the Christmas bonus.

The collective contract has not gained popularity with employers, despite Sinactraho's efforts at promotion. Most of its 1,500 union members and other non-affiliated women continue working without any written contract. Still, the union has developed a guide for employers that helps them understand how and why domestic workers should enjoy the same rights and benefits as any other worker. It includes a wage tabulator that categorizes domestic work according to the level of difficulty and the appropriate salary for each category, instructions on how to calculate different types of bonuses and vacation days, and specification on how to proceed when the woman worker gets sick or pregnant. Mostly, however, it seeks to change society’s perspective on domestic work: to show that putting food on people's tables, walking their dogs, cleaning their houses and bathing their kids is a real job that needs to be properly valued. Worker’s demands for higher salaries, shorter hours, paid vacations and other benefits aren’t unfounded wishes but rights stipulated by the Mexican laws and international conventions.

Today, Gemma works for an elderly couple that partly recognize their obligations as an employer. “They pay me a Christmas bonus and regularly raise my salary without having to ask for it," she said. "But there are also people who are convinced that, just for paying some money, they have the right to treat us as they please. We work very hard so it’s time that they start responding properly."

Martina Žoldoš is a Slovenian journalist and photographer living in Mexico.

AdminMarch 9, 2020