6 months ago
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The Karnataka Domestic Workers’ Rights Union has urged the State authorities to fortify the projected Domestic Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, calling it a historical and progressive step, but informing that large procedural and substantive gaps could instrumentality implicit its effectiveness.
At a gathering held to cod responses from stakeholders successful J.P. Nagar connected Saturday, the national commended the Karnataka Labour Department for becoming the archetypal successful India to draught a broad instrumentality for home workers and said that Karnataka present carries the important work of ensuring that the authorities is good thought retired and centred connected workers’ rights.
Raising concerns, the national said lone the English mentation of the Bill has been released truthful acold and nary Kannada mentation is available. Most home workers person not studied English, the national said, which makes it intolerable for them to work oregon respond to the draft. It urged the authorities to instantly merchandise a Kannada mentation of the Bill and widen the consultation play by different 30 days truthful that workers and unions tin springiness their feedback.
The missive besides pointed retired that the rubric of the Bill does not intelligibly notation extortion of home workers’ moving conditions. It recommended that the rubric should beryllium changed to bespeak that this is simply a rights-based authorities and to springiness clarity astir its purpose. The national besides said the explanation of forced labour successful the Bill needs to beryllium rewritten to see cases wherever radical are made to enactment for nary wage oregon beneath minimum wages, arsenic good arsenic trafficking and bonded labour.
It further asked that the explanation of ‘child’ should lucifer the 1 successful the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, which defines a kid arsenic anyone beneath 14 years. The explanation of ‘adolescent’ should besides beryllium consistent, it said.
The national said the Bill indispensable marque it wide that employers, not workers, should beryllium liable for the registration of home workers. This is important for those who are illiterate oregon migrant workers. If the leader fails to registry a idiosyncratic wrong a fixed time, determination should beryllium a backup strategy truthful that workers tin registry themselves.
It opposed the Bill’s connection that workers indispensable renew their registration each 3 years. This, the national said, volition load workers and whitethorn pb to denial of benefits. Instead, employers should update the worker’s employment presumption each 3 years. The national besides said that erstwhile a idiosyncratic joins oregon leaves a job, the leader should beryllium liable for updating the alteration connected the app oregon portal.
The missive said moving information provisions successful the Bill are vague and indispensable beryllium rewritten. It recommended an eight-hour regular and 48-hour play bounds with overtime pay, 4 play holidays, 15 days of sick and 15 days of yearly leave, and 1 month’s bonus. Minimum wages should beryllium fixed for some live-in and part-time workers, based connected the Reptakos Brett principles, and determination should beryllium a 10% yearly wage increment.
The national added that societal information benefits should beryllium intelligibly listed with peculiar extortion for workers supra 55 years. It besides sought elaborate standards for live-in workers’ accommodation and healthcare, arsenic per ILO norms. The missive further asked the authorities to clarify who volition service connected the projected Domestic Workers’ Welfare Board and whether each ESI Act provisions volition use to home workers.
