madam president i think it is important for us to have this discussion in the light of the upcoming adoption of an ilo convention on domestic workers
i believe that we in this house should commend the ilo for its excellent work
domestic work family caring for example takes place exclusively in the family home
traditionally of course in the eu it was women's work although that is changing
migrants and people from more marginalised communities are also more likely to work in a domestic situation
the value of domestic work is not included in our gdp calculations and for that reason among others domestic work is very often invisible and is certainly undervalued
without any doubt this leaves domestic workers in a precarious position and very often they have to rely on the goodwill of employers
this is simply not acceptable
as we say in the resolution it leaves domestic workers more likely to face discrimination and indeed multiple forms of discrimination
the importance of this ilo convention is that it will provide legal recognition of domestic work as work
following on from that domestic workers should be in a stronger position to exercise their rights
i think it is crucial that domestic workers have a right to core labour standards
that of course includes access to social security health and safety protection and maternity protection as well as provisions on working and rest time
because domestic work takes place largely within the family home there can be issues of privacy involved
we need to find innovative and workable solutions to ensuring the health and safety of domestic workers and in the overall context to ensure that their rights are fully respected
one solution might be the use of model contracts
in the canton of geneva for example there is a model contract which is automatically entered into by all employers and employees it deals with issues such as the minimum wage family allowances and holidays
i believe that contracts of a similar type operate in belgium
they give greater security to domestic workers simplify matters for employers and eliminate grey areas and ambiguities
i also want to say that i am very happy to support the amendments from the green group where they talk about the inclusion of au pairs and undeclared work but come forward with practical suggestions to ensure we are proactive in ensuring access to the open labour market for domestic workers
finally i want to support the author of the resolution ms berès when she says that the european union should lead the way on improving conditions for domestic workers
commissioner i was interested in your words on occupational health and safety and even though you do not foresee extending the directive i think your comments leave some scope for flexibility in ensuring better health and safety conditions for domestic workers
