Decent Domestic Service

Decent Domestic Service

What is the project about?

The information available on the working conditions of people delivering domestic services is sparse, unreliable and enforcement of the relevant legislation is poor.
It is necessary to ensure that these workers, mostly women (many immigrants), enjoy of decent living and working conditions. Promoted by STAD, the Concierge Services, Surveillance, Cleaning, Domestic Workers and Miscellaneous Activities’ Union, the project on “Dignified Domestic Service”, funded by the EEA Grants, aims to respond to that need, deepening the study of the current reality, formulating proposals for improving the legal framework and informing and organizing workers for better defending their interests.

It is an Small Grant Scheme #3 project: White books/studies to foster gender equality

What will it achieve?

• Carrying out a diagnosis of employment and economic activity regarding paid domestic workers in Portugal; this diagnosis will allow a better
  perception of the reality of the sector, such as working conditions, access to
  social security, knowledge of rights and duties, impact of COVID 19, etc.

• Conducting a study of the Portuguese legal regime of paid domestic work; the study will analyze Portuguese legislation but also other from countries seeking to identify gaps and/or good practices that will lead to the elaboration of proposals for improvements to be introduced in the legal framework.

• Carrying out the study on social protection and promoting formalization; the study
  will address social protection (including accidents at work) and cases of good practices already applied in other countries, resulting in a set of proposals/ /recommendations in order to improve and increase social protection.

• Conducting the study “Domestic service: challenges and opportunities for trade union action”; this work will seek to contribute to the empowerment of workers and for training STAD to better respond to the challenges and problems of formalization, mobilization, organization and representation of workers, including immigrant workers.

• Elaboration of the study/White Paper “Paid domestic work”; this White Paper will result from the systematization of the conclusions of the previous studies, in an
  integrated vision that ensures the expected impacts of the project: legal system and adequate public policies, increased social protection and greater organization and mobilization of people in paid domestic work.

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