domestic services in a ”country of equality”
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Domestic Services in a ”Country of Equality”. Catharina Calleman Department of Law Umeå university Umeå, Sweden [email protected]. ”Do your own cleaning!”. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Domestic Services in a ”Country of Equality”
Catharina CallemanDepartment of Law
Umeå universityUmeå, Sweden
Datum Sidfot 3
”Do your own cleaning!”
• When paid domestic services were
disappearing in the 1960’s, this was widely
considered important from an equality
perspective
Datum Sidfot 4
Today however
Domestic services are increasing because of
• increasing wage differentials
• cuts in public services
• the Free Movement of workers within the EU
• unemployment
• tax reductions for buyers of domestic services
Datum Sidfot 5
…There are few social norms for the unequal and intimate relationship
…Employment regulation is not known
…There is
no official statistics on domestic work
no trade union for domestics employed in
the household
no legislation on minimum wage
…in a context where
Datum Sidfot 6
Mainly three legal forms for domestic services
Employment in Home-Service Companies
Self-employment
Employment in private homes
Datum Sidfot 7
Employment in companies
General employment law is applicable
(with a few exceptions)
Low wages
Very high percentage of
immigrant/foreign women
Extremely low unionization
Datum Sidfot 8
Self-employment
The contract between the parties governs the relationship between two ”equal parties” (Contract Law)
High percentage of immigrant/foreign women
Datum Sidfot 9
Employment directly in private homes
Regulation: The Domestic Work Act:• Long working hours• Very weak employment protection• No inspection
Very high percentage of immigrant/foreign women
Datum Sidfot 10
Problems arise in relation to some ILO issues
Minimum wage legislation? No!
Right to explicit employement agreement? No!
Right of association? Yes, but no trade union!
=No collective agreement on minimum wages
Protection for migrant domestics? No!
Datum Sidfot 11
Tax reduction for domestic services (2007). Purposes:• Create new jobs
• Turn undeclared work into declared work
• Gender equality: ”make it possible for women and men to combine their working life and family life on equal conditions”
• (No discussions on working conditions)
Datum Sidfot 12
Reduction
• 50 per cent of costs for domestic services are deducted from the buyer’s taxes
• Maximum 50 000 SEK reduction
= 7,000 Can $/year
Datum Sidfot 13
Requirement now:
Seller of services must pay Business tax
Employment directly in the household is not entitled to reductions
Datum Sidfot 14
Extensions (future?)
Employers’ fees have been abolished from employment directly in the household
Proposition to include also employment directly in the household