Culture of Compliance with the Rights and Duties of Domestic Service Workers

From September 9-12, 2019, a delegation of four officers from the Ministry of Labor of Costa Rica led by Vice-Minister Ricardo Marín, visited the Ministry of Labor of Uruguay to receive on-site information, training and input to develop a Pilot Implementation Plan of the ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers to be applied in Costa Rica.

The activity consisted in a series of information and discussion sessions with the Vice-Minister of Labor and Social Security of Uruguay, Nelson Lostaunau, and interviews with the general labor and social security inspector, Cristina Demarco, on the formalization of domestic workers; with the National Director of Employment, Eduardo Pereyra, on the training of this sector through INEFOP; with delegates of the wages council; and with representatives of domestic workers. 

In their Final Report, the delegation of Costa Rica outlines that some of the main results and findings of the activity were to have received important information for the elaboration of the Pilot Implementation Plan through four main axis: dissemination and information of the labor rights and duties of domestic workers; regularization and formalization actions to establish a road from informality to formality; social dialogue for the implementation of the Convention with support from workers and employers; and the inspection of labor rights of domestic workers.

The main impact of the activity is the development of the Pilot Implementation Plan in 2020, which will be used to implement Convention 189 in Costa Rica. 

Note: This activity was co-funded by the ILO Office for Central America, covering travel costs of Vice-Minister Azofeifa, while RIAL funded the participation of three MTSS officers, per the 12th Call Guidelines.