US domestic workers “hardest hit” by coronavirus without food or rent
New YorkThomson Reuters Foundation Almost three-quarters of US domestic workers have lost their jobs due to the new coronavirus, with most unable to pay rent and worried about buying food, researchers found, calling for broader government benefits for unprotected workers. Nine out of 10 domestic workers are women, and three out of four are their […]
Abused Bangladeshi housemaids struggle for justice at home
Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation Traumatised Bangladeshi women who return home after being tortured and abused working in the Middle East rarely get justice because brokers intimidate them and they cannot afford legal aid, a rights group said on Wednesday. In interviews with 110 returnees, 86 per cent did not receive their full salaries, 61 […]
Malaysian court sides with forced labour victims over unpaid wages
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation An undocumented domestic worker has the right to pursue her claim for unpaid wages in Malaysia, a court has ruled, setting a legal precedent migrant rights groups said would help protect human trafficking survivors. In a landmark ruling this week, a high court in Malaysia said an Indonesian domestic worker […]
Lebanon sees migrant domestic workers as “less than human” – filmmaker
Beirut Thomson Reuters Foundation Migrant domestic workers are seen as less than human in Lebanon, the director of a new film that exposes widespread abuse of such women said ahead of a screening in Beirut on Tuesday. Shouting Without a Listener follows three Ethiopian women who arrive in Beirut to work as live-in housekeepers under […]
Mexico plans special minimum wage for domestic workers in drive to curb abuse
Monterrey, Mexico Thomson Reuters Foundation Mexico’s government is planning to introduce a specific minimum wage for its 2 million domestic workers in a drive to boost their labour rights after years of neglect, a official said. Activists, academics, and government officials met this week to discuss fixing a unique minimum wage for the workers in a country where […]
Postcards: Underpaid and abused, Guinea-Bissau’s domestic workers seek protection
NELLIE PEYTON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…