Cape Town – Domestic worker unions and allies have rallied against their exclusion from social protection and compensation for occupationally acquired Covid-19 claims.
The SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers’ Union, the United Domestic Workers of SA, and informal worker organisations said they had launched an online petition addressing all aspects pertaining to the recognition of domestic workers as full employees who deserve social protection under the Compensation for Occupational Injury and Disease Act, 130 of 1993 (Coida).
The unions said that the Government Notice of March 20, issued by the Department of Employment and Labour in terms of Section 6A of Coida to include compensation for occupationally acquired novel coronavirus disease, excludes domestic workers from its ambit.
“The action by the Department of Employment and Labour to exclude domestic workers from claiming compensation for work-related Covid-19 infections comes against the background of North Gauteng High Court’s judgment in May 2019 which declared the exclusion of domestic workers from provisions of Coida, 130 of 1993 as unconstitutional,” the unions said.
“In October 2019, a proposed draft amendment bill seeking to extend coverage to domestic workers in Coida was widely debated and discussed by various stakeholders. However, to date there has been no progress in taking the bill through the legislative process.
“While these legislative and judicial processes take their course, the Covid-19 pandemic has interceded. Domestic workers’ continued exclusion from compensation under Coida now prevents them from claiming compensation during the current Covid-19 pandemic,” said the unions.
They charged that while other workers had been afforded a safety net, domestic workers were left to fend for themselves.
“Yet, their risk of being exposed to and contracting Covid-19 while working in private households is no less than that of other workers and will only increase as the pandemic spreads.
“This exclusion of domestic workers from claiming compensation has always been irrational and discriminatory, but its consequences are exacerbated by the current crisis and their immediate inclusion is critical and needs to be addressed with haste,” they said.
The petition can be signed at http://chng.it/ZvGbnTy7XV