Britain: Foreign domestic workers gain rights

Off Our Backs, Jan 1999

LONDON--For the first time in 18 years, foreign domestic workers in Britain will be able to charge employers if they suffer abuse. Last July, the British Home Office recognized new rights for foreign domestics. These rights were formulated through consultations with Kalayaan, a London-based group started by Filipinas to lobby for the rights of Filipina and other domestic workers.

The new employment policy puts an end to the oppressive 1980 act that bound domestic workers to the employer they were hired by when they came to Britain. Since its implementation, Kalayaan has documented over 2,000 cases of domestic workers who have fled from their employers' homes alleging confinement, beatings, sexual assault, rape, and withheld wages. The new law regularizes the stay in Britain of domestics who previously found themselves in legal limbo.

However, Immigration Minister Michael O'Brien said that the changes will reduce the number of domestic workers admitted to the United Kingdom.

--info from Kinesis, 10/98