Activities of Neoklis SYLIKIOTIS related to 2015/2094(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Women domestic workers and carers in the EU (A8-0053/2016 - Kostadinka Kuneva) EL
Amendments (35)
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. having regard to the varying job types and conditions under which women are employed as domestic workers or carers, which can be, among other possibilities, as undeclared, undocumented, casual or migrant workers with no contract, or nomigrant workers with no contract, with a casual contract, workers on full- or part-time contracts, working for one or more employers, hired by individuals or companies, internally or externally, with or without recognition of their qualifications,
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas domestic and care work is primarily characterised by the following: job instability, geographical mobility, ad- hoc hours, seasonal work patterns, shifts, lack of job security, casual employment, mainly undeclared labour,
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas undocumented female migrant workers are the subject of worrying levels of discrimination, and fail to report instances of abuse, unfair dismissal, non-payment of wages, violence, discrimination, maltreatment, forced labour, servitude or confinement owing to a lack of awareness about their rights, obstacles such as a language barrier or out of fear of being arrested, deported or losing their job,
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas domestic and care work is a sector that creates jobs; these jobs must be of a high quality, as it is because of the work carried out by workers in this sector that many people are able to be economically and socially active outside of the home,
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. having regard to the particular relationship of dependency between a male or female employer and a female employee as a result of the latter's working in the former's private space,
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. having regard to the absence of a legal framework at EU level and the variety of ways of arranging and proposing legislation over domestic and care work, which differ between the Member States,
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas regulated and declared domestic and care work improves the quality of life of the people who carry it out, provides them with social services and protection against abuse and discrimination, reduces the risk of poverty, marginalisation, stigmatisation and loss of face, and also gives the employer a better guarantee of a quality service and helps to increase revenue for the Member States’ social security funds,
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas providing adequate protection for people with disabilities, the elderly, ill people, dependants and minors is a fundamental EU principle and domestic and care work is a sector that is essential to ensuring that it is maintained,
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas austerity measures introduced as a result of the crisis have reduced public investment in the care sector, which has forced many people, mainly women, to cut their working hours or return to the home to take care of dependants, elderly people, ill people or children,
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas the place in which these people carry out their work does not make the employer exempt from complying with health and safety and risk prevention requirements, or from respecting the privacy of those who stay overnight on the premises,
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Encourages the Member States to ratify ILO Convention 189, and urges those who have already done so to apply it stringentlyin its entirety, implementing the appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the articles of said Convention and ILO Recommendation R-201 of 2011 on decent work for domestic workers;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women domestic and care workers through the removal of EU labour provisions that specifically exclude women domestic and/or care workers with a view to ensuring that these people are included;
Amendment 89 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for measures to be taken to ensure fullimprovements to the existing national labour legislation through the development of systems to ensure effective application and greater compliance with the lawis legislation on issues affecting this group, to step up labour inspections in the workplace so as to clamp down on unlawful behaviour and to facilitate and incentivise legal hiring practices; ;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Member States to better regulate the labour market to create high- quality jobs, and recalls that not regularising undocumented workers causes the underground economy to grow and results in workers being unable to defend or protect themselves;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Welcomes the initiatives for preventing and discouraging undeclared work, as the underground economy threatens job security, reduces the quality of work available, puts the sustainability of the social welfare system at risk and reduces the tax income to the State’s coffers; insists that female workers should not be held responsible or face penalties;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to invest in more and better ways of preventing, detecting and combating illegal employment through better, more streamlined labour control and inspection mechanisms that penalise employers who break the law, without this having a detrimental or harmful effect on the person who has complained about their employer, irrespective of the former’s legal-administrative situation;
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Calls on the Commission to provide new lines of funding with sufficient resources to raise awareness among and provide specific training to the relevant authorities (labour, judicial, immigration, State security bodies, etc.), enabling more efficient coordination between all of these entities, the introduction of protocols to upgrade and enhance the skills of civil servants responsible for assessing and suitably dealing with complaints raised by these female workers;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to commit more public investment to cover families’ care needs (elderly care homes, day-care centres, centres for dependants, nurseries, etc.) to ensure that families who provide care are able to do so on a voluntary basis rather than as punishment for having a low income, as a result of having been abandoned by the State;
Amendment 112 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recommends the establishment of an office, a helpline and a website providing assistance and, with information on the rights of women workers in each Member State; and responsibilities of workers and employers (families or agencies) in each Member State, and a European Observatory of Domestic and Care Work tasked with devising methods for providing protection, lodging complaints and raising awareness;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Underlines the need to provide women domestic and care workers with an understanding of the employment conditions stipulated in their job contract, access to information on resources and services available to them, knowledge of existing legislation, rules and collective agreements, access to and knowledge of trade union activities and the advantages of collective organisation;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Recommends that a consensual contract be drawn up for domestic and care work in each Member State, following a social dialogue between social workers, employers and female workers;
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Stresses the need to raise awareness among employers of their obligations, and to provide them with information on good hiring practices, their legal obligations, penalties in the event of infringement and information and assistance available to the parties, and emphasises the need for the employer to recognise this group as workers with rights;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3d. Recommends that the Member States develop campaigns to improve visibility, enhance understanding and raise awareness among public and private bodies, families and public opinion as a whole with a view to dignifying the profession and gaining recognition for the important work and contribution of women domestic and care workers to the functioning of society;
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3e. Reminds the Commission of its obligation to verify the application of the European Convention on the legal status of migrant workers, the Council of Europe Convention on action against trafficking in human beings, and the International Convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3f. Calls for the provision of public aid and subsidies to establish and support cooperatives, autonomous associations and women domestic and care worker platforms, as these organisations contribute to the collective defence of these people’s rights;
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 g (new)
Paragraph 3 g (new)
3g. Stresses the importance of taking action to ensure the full application of the laws for the prevention of occupational hazards in the homes of employers, in order to guarantee occupational health and safety at the same levels as those enjoyed by other workers and prevent work-related accidents, risks of illness and exposure to hazards, such as intoxication with cleaning products, which are detrimental to health and well- being;
Amendment 138 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Regrets that women domestic and care workers continue to be poorly represented in trade union organisations in the various Member States and stresses the need to encourage these female workers to join trade unions;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Recommends that the Commission promote the exchange of best practices between the Member States, following the example of successful models that have had a positive impact on the sector in social and labour terms, e.g. the ‘service vouchers’ introduced by Belgium and the ‘universal service employment cheque (CESU)’ in France;
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to commit more public investment to creating stable, high-quality jobs in the sector;
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Calls on the Commission to encourage the Member States to establish systems for professionalisation, training, continuous skills development and recognition of women domestic and care workers’ qualifications, including literacy (if applicable), to enhance their prospects of personal, professional and career development;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Expresses concern over the lack of inspections to oversee, monitor and supervise the hiring of women domestic and care workers carried out by companies or recruitment agencies and reiterates the need to increase the number of public inspectors and inspections to ensure compliance with the law;
Amendment 165 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recommends affording women domestic workers and carers the same status as the rest of the labour forceany other worker in any Member State, recognising their work as an occupation in its own right and paving the way for working conditions to be genuinely afforded the same status as the rest of the productive sectors in fundamental aspects such as the following: a minimum wage, working days of the same length as the rest of the country’s workers, a weekly rest period and the right to holidays, recognised paid sick, maternity, paternity and breastfeeding leave, unemployment benefits, social security, occupational health and safety, restrictions on cash-in- hand pay, paid overtime, a precise definition of the tasks involved in the position and clear information on general working conditions, freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the right to a pension, etc.;
Amendment 173 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. recalls that, pursuant to the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations of 1961, civil servants from the diplomatic corps must respect the laws and regulations of the State, including employment law, but that, owing to the fact that employers have immunity from the criminal justice system of the host State and their homes enjoy inviolability, the latter are protected against prosecution, leaving their employees defenceless and without access to justice if they suffer abuse or any prospect of changing employer due to the risk of losing their residence permit;
Amendment 176 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls for compliance with the European Convention on au pair placement and for an increase in inspections as this employment method is sometimes exploited by employers to obtain cheap internal female domestic workers;