Domestic workers staged a dharna in front of the AG’s Office here on Thursday demanding a comprehensive law for better working conditions, compensation to domestic workers who have lost jobs, and implementation of the urban employment scheme.
The protest organised under the umbrella of the SEWA-Union was part of a national agitation against the changes brought by the Union government to labour laws.
Inaugurating the protest, Sonia George, general secretary of the SEWA-Union, said the dharna was the first of protests by domestic workers.
In a statement here, the SEWA-Union said domestic workers were among the section of workers who had lost their jobs the most. Though they provided an essential service, they were being kept away from the workplace on the grounds of being virus carriers. The labour bills passed by Parliament did not cover domestic workers.
Ms. George said the Code on Social Security did not define private homes as an establishment or define an employer. Till then, workspaces of domestic workers would not get any recognition and they would not be able to highlight any violation of labour rights in that space.
There were apprehensions that the domestic workers would not get any entitlements if they could not prove they were a worker, though the Union government’s argument was that they were universalising social security benefits, she said.