Domestic workers and care workers provide their valuable services to the households like cleaning, cooking, washing among other, and by taking care of children, elderly, disabled, or other care needs, but their own situation remains challenging. 

These domestic workers leaders had come together for a three-day meet organized by NDWF and their parent organization, National Domestic Workers Movement. The ILO was requested to provide technical support to help the unions decide and think about the different options available to them to organize workers, help enhance better wages and working conditions for skilled domestic workers, many of whom are also doing care work, and how they can form different types of cooperatives and offer their services to the households, with better wages, working conditions and access to social protection. In 2013-14, the ILO's Work in Freedom Programme (Phase I) had supported formation of skilled domestic/care workers cooperative in Jharkhand, India, supported by Jharkhand Gharelu Kamgar Union (Jharkhand Domestic Workers Union), which is now affiliated to National Domestic Workers Federation.

Illustrative image (ILO)

Care Cooperatives (COOPs) can serve multiple purposes and are seen as gender-transformative solutions to decent work, not just for the domestic and care workers themselves but also for the community at large. The ILO has launched a new tool, Think.CareCOOP, which enables the care/domestic workers and their organizations, as well as individuals who would like to engage in collective entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship to come together to think about starting care cooperatives. The ILO also piloted tested the Think.CareCOOP with the group, which the union leaders found very useful in helping them shape up their ideas. 

With women bearing the burden of care, it is important to follow the ILO's 5R policy framework and Recognize, Reduce, and Redistribute unpaid care work, and Reward and Represent paid care workers to deal with these challenges. A people-centric, principle driven and member-owned business enterprises, such as care cooperatives are innovative and gender transformative solutions, and enable people, especially women to participate in the workforce and enable decent work for care/domestic workers”.

“This discussion using the ILO’s Think.CareCOOP was critical and the union leaders now have more clarity on how they should approach Care COOP formation and to discuss with their members for example, what will be the purpose of the COOP, the type of COOPs they want to set-up and the services they can offer through the COOP for their members, other vulnerable workers (like street vendors, homebased workers, construction, agricultural and factory workers) in nearby communities and to the households and businesses” said Sister Christy Mary, who leads the NDWM in India. 

Over the next few days, the union leaders will consult the union members and define and concretize some of these ideas, after which, the ILO’s Start.CareCOOP module will be used to help the unions who would like to move forward in starting the Care COOP.  

Illustrative image (ILO)