Assis, Mariana Prandini. 2023. Decent Work for Domestic Workers: Analyzing the Implementation of C189 in Latin America and the Caribbean. WIEGO Resource Document No. 36.
This Resource Document examines the measures that 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries have taken towards implementing C189: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Of these countries, only three – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – have not ratified C189.
But while there has been extensive ratification of the Convention in the region, ratification has not meant that countries have subsequently reformed their laws.
Latin America and the Caribbean is a region with very high rates of legal coverage for domestic workers. In most of the countries surveyed, domestic work is regulated in the labour codes – general labour law – but this does not mean that domestic workers always enjoy the same rights as other categories of workers. Often, they are are placed within a special section of the law.
In most of the countries surveyed, domestic workers enjoy the same minimum salary and weekly rest periods as other workers, but only in half of the countries do they have similar working hours. Also, in most of the countries, domestic workers have the same access to the national social security regime as other workers, and the same general measures to ensure workplace safety and health.