Breathe
By Marcelina Bautista
Now it will be mandatory for domestic workers to register for social security. In recent months, the Chamber of Deputies approved, with 486 votes in favor and one abstention, the reform to the Social Security Law, which allows our compañeras to dignify their work, their lives and their health and become part of the formal economy.
This is an unprecedented triumph for domestic workers and one that began in 2016 with María Rosario Garduño Gómez's lawsuit against her employers, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT). As a result, on December 5, 2018, the SCJN "considered that it was unconstitutional for employers not to be obligated to register household employees with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS)", and asked the IMSS to create a pilot incorporation program and legislators to reform the law.
Six years after Garduño Gómez's injunction, the ruling is finally being enforced to recognize the right to mandatory social security for more than 2.3 million domestic workers.
For this reason, the domestic workers' movement will continue to push for this right to be fulfilled in practice and not just on paper.
Now, starting in April, the IMSS will be publishing the reform to have everything in order and open the doors to the five insurances: occupational risks; illnesses; maternity and daycare; disability and life; retirement, unemployment at advanced age and old age. We are talking about the fact that for this month of April, all persons who hire the work of one or more domestic workers must register them with the IMSS, comply with their obligations and if they do not do so, they will be subject to the sanctions and fines indicated in the Regulations for the imposition of fines for infringement of the provisions of the LSS and its regulations.
From the National Center for Professional Training and Leadership of Household Employees (CACEH), which I founded and have directed for 22 years, we believe thatthis is an invaluable opportunity for an unprecedented transformation in the world of domestic work, and it is a challenge that we have to take both domestic workers and employers. Because the obligation is made by all of us.
The SCJN stated that the Social Security Law was unconstitutional and discriminatory, but this law is only a reflection of the society in which we live. During the three years that the pilot incorporation program has been operating, only 52,70 thousand domestic workers joined the IMSS. That is why we have the slogan that we repeat to our representatives: shake off your fear.
As domestic workers we have to inform ourselves about our rights, become aware of the importance of having social security and plan for our future; ask our employers for incorporation and if this does not happen, report it to the IMSS.
As employers, there is no need to wait for inspections or even go to a physical counter, because the procedure is simple and accessible online. It is necessary to talk about rights and obligations with the people who work in your home and formalize your relationship. We need them to be protagonists in this formalization process.
Together, as employers and domestic workers, we have to influence the IMSS to improve its services, access to medical care, day care centers... our economic contributions, but also our activism as beneficiaries, should lead us to the rehabilitation of the institute, and to pay off a historical debt that is a shared responsibility.
What follows is the improvement of salaries and access to INFONAVIT for domestic workers, because there are institutions of the Mexican State that continue to contemplate us within special regimes or simply ignore us. Fortunately, thanks to our organization and struggle, the IMSS is no longer on this list.
Here is the 2023 salary tabulator, an experience of domestic workers.
The increase to a professional minimum wage and 12 paid vacation days with which we start 2023 also applies to domestic workers.
This will guarantee decent work for domestic workers in Mexico as well.
Because the increase in vacation days to which a working person is entitled by law also went into effect, from six days in the first year of work to 12 mandatory days of decent vacation.
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