If Labour really wants to protect women, it must restore domestic workers' rights

Today is International Domestic Workers Day.

Thirteen years ago, the UK government changed immigration rules in ways that made life more dangerous for overseas domestic workers.

Under the new rules, introduced in 2012, workers were tied to the employer they arrived with. This meant they couldn’t change jobs or switch employers, even if they were being abused or exploited. Changes made in 2016 to allow workers to change employers didn’t address the situation. With the visa lasting only six months, there was simply not enough time to find new, decent work in practice. Who would employ someone in their home to care for their kids or a family member, with only a few months left on a non-renewable visa?

In my own experiences as a domestic worker and in my role at Voice of Domestic Workers, I have seen some horrific things. Domestic workers have been made to sleep on kitchen floors or in cupboards, work from early morning until late at night with no rest, go without pay, have their passports taken away, or face threats, insults and physical or emotional abuse.

These are clear examples of exploitation. And even seemingly minor issues, when left unaddressed, can escalate, sometimes into modern slavery. As organisations like Focus on Labour Exploitation have highlighted, abuse operates on a continuum, where lower levels of mistreatment often lead to more severe forms of harm.

Read more:

• I was abused, bullied and left in limbo as a migrant domestic worker. I’m proud of myself for surviving
• Migrant care worker left homeless after being ‘exploited’ UK employer: ‘It’s a national scandal’
• I’m a survivor of modern slavery – this is the shocking way I was treated by the UK government

These changes had serious consequences. They meant that exploited migrant domestic workers cannot simply leave and find another job; if they did, they could be left without legal protections, detained or deported. This has led many people to stay in dangerous environments, in fear of the alternative.

In this way, the system is designed to facilitate exploitation and leave it unchecked.

Clearly, change is needed on a systemic level. Restoring the original overseas domestic worker (ODW) visa would be a vital first step. It would give migrant domestic workers the most basic rights to withdraw their labour and find new work. This could be built with the new Employment Rights Bill and government commitments to make work pay, to make sure domestic workers can access rights as workers.

When in opposition, the Labour Party realised this. That’s why they committed to bringing back the ODW visa. Jess Phillips MP, now minister of safeguarding, said that “without question these women need agency, rights and support that the current system does not provide”, and supported campaigns to back the pre-2012 visa.

But now, with the power to act, the Labour Party has not acted to bring back the previous visa. The government has only committed to reconsidering “the purpose of this route, acting to stop employers exploiting their staff”.

We need the government to keep its promise to fix this problem.

To be clear, restoring the rights within the original visa would let domestic workers leave abusive employers and reduce modern slavery. There is no reason not to do this if domestic workers are genuinely valued as workers, as women and as people.

This government claims to be a pro-worker government, with an Employment Rights Bill that they have heralded as a new era for workers’ rights in the UK. But the reality is that whilst rights are given to some workers, others are being left behind, falling ever further into danger.

As someone who has been campaigning for years for the rights of domestic workers, I am tired of listening to politicians using days like International Domestic Workers Day to publicly celebrate our work, whilst not doing the bare minimum to protect our dignity and safety.

This government also claims to be for women. The vast majority of migrant domestic workers are women, as well as mothers who aren’t allowed to bring their children with them. These women make huge sacrifices to make a living, yet are treated with disrespect. I am tired of hearing people claim to be feminists when they refuse to advocate for all women workers.

Time and time again, governments prove willing to disregard the safety of migrant workers, all at the altar of reducing immigration figures, and regardless of whether it works. Governments care about being seen to be tough on migrants, regardless of success, and regardless of the very real harms that are inflicted on migrant workers as a result.

The change we need is possible. We at Voice of Domestic Workers, together with a strong coalition of allies, are supporting an Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill amendment by Baroness Hamwee to reinstate the rights of domestic workers on the overseas domestic worker visa. The government should adopt this amendment as their own, guaranteeing migrant domestic workers’ rights and options as workers in the UK.

This International Domestic Workers Day, I don’t want to hear empty words or praise; I want to see change.

Marissa Begonia is the founder and director of Voice of Domestic Workers and was herself a migrant domestic worker for many years.

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