The First Domestic Workers Union in Philippines established!

On April 26, 2015, history has been made when the first domestic workers’ union held its founding assembly to formalize the organizing of the United Domestic Workers’ of the Philippines or simply UNITED.

Details

Started as an initiative of the Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN), during the time that the campaign on the ratification of the ILO Convention 189 was in progress.  The organizing of domestic workers’ similar to other countries was not easy.  Himaya Derama Montenegro, the organiser of LEARN started a saving scheme in the cooperative to build confidence among the domestic workers where LEARN and its affiliated unions were working with in the various communities. Painstakingly, the effort paid off and that started the building blocks for the formation of UNITED a few years thereafter.

With an initial five (5) chapters, with around three hundred members,  UNITED aims to strengthened solidarity and unity and supporting activities for the upliftment  of the domestic workers in the Philippines and globally. To achieve this, it needs to organize other domestic workers, leadership development of officers and members, continuous education for its membership, domestic workers’ rights campaign, research and economic empowerment.

To implement this programs and activities of UNITED, they also elected an 11-women executive committee headed by Sis. Noveleta Palisoc, a former  migrant domestic worker  herself.The founding assembly was attended by ILO, Trade Union Solidarity Center of Finland, LO-Norway, SENTRO, LEARN, CMA, IDWF and the Department of Labor and Employment through POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac who also was the keynote speaker.

Source: Rey Rasing