Domestic workers at a demonstration. ILO/Flickr. Creative Commons.
On 2 November 2013, a large group of domestic workers held a joint demonstration with their employers in the Museumkwartier in Amsterdam. They carried protest signs with slogans such as: 'We want to pay tax', 'We take care of your children', 'I have 27 house keys' and, most prominently, 'Ratify ILO convention 189 now!'
This was the first occasion in the Netherlands in which these workers became visible as a group. Two years earlier, the International Conference of Labour in Geneva adopted the ILO convention 189, an agreement which states that domestic workers have all the same labour rights as regular workers. The Dutch government also voted for the adoption of this treaty but differently than in the neighbouring countries, the Netherlands have yet to ratify the convention.
