Domestic workers in Dimapur suffering in silence

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Oct. 7(EMN): Domestic workers in Dimapur, who are mostly women, are silent victims of discrimination and neglect, especially with the pandemic rendering them jobless and taking away their livelihood.

This was echoed at the programme commemorating ‘World Day for Decent Work’, organised by National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) of Nagaland region.

“We work like we are being given punishment but are not paid honestly according to our work or sometimes not even paid at all,” voiced domestic workers from Dimapur.

One of the domestic workers said that before the pandemic, she used to work in three houses but after the lockdown was enforced, two house owners terminated her employment and one of the employers asked her to do the work outside like ‘cleaning the surroundings and garden’.

She would work four hours a day, but after a month of cleaning, the owner paid her INR 1000 and asked her to stop.

She lamented that it was unfair they had to lose their livelihood.

Another worker asked if there was any programme in Nagaland where the domestic workers are given medical insurance or other benefits. Another woman also cried that the government had not responded to their demands.

Sharing her experience, she said that government employees and teachers are paid their salaries even during the pandemic but their employers did not pay them citing the pandemic.

She said that there were many workers who were jobless and did not have any other source of income and therefore demanded that their salaries be paid on time.

Another woman shared that they leave behind their duties at home and work in another household and “it is because of us that many parents are able to go for work”.

‘Our work should not be considered small,’ she added.

‘We do all kinds of work but we are paid only around INR 1500-2000 or INR 3000 at the most,’ she said while appealing to the government to listen to their voices and fulfil their demands so that they can earn and live decently.

Sr. Pramila Lobo UFS, Co-ordinator of NDWM, informed that there are 2050 registered domestic workers, including migrant and local workers in Dimapur alone. She also said that most of the domestic workers are from the eastern part of the state.

She stated that even after 10 years of adoption of the domestic workers convention, ‘there is a lot more to do and the central, state, local government, employers, and the general public need a serious reality check for the welfare of the domestic workers’.

She reiterated their demands: Recognition of domestic workers as workers, inclusion of domestic workers in schedule of employment and thus entitled to minimum wages, protection against all types of harassment, social security and access to benefits, and employers provide contracts for domestic workers.

She asserted that the women don’t want sympathy but want their rights and dignity as a domestic worker.

T Limanochet Jamir, legal advisor of NDWM, stated that 81% of the total domestic workers remain informally employed and they are more likely than others to work very long as well as very short hours and earn just a meagre wage as compared to other labour markets.

He thus appealed to the government as well as private sectors and the employers to ensure fairness in sectors that bring revenue.

‘On the other hand, the workers face an extremely precarious situation in terms of their labour rights, wages and working conditions,’ he said while urging the government to regulate and guarantee rights for those workers in order to make decent work a reality.