LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Inside the Ministry for Labor and Social Security in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, a colorful poster on the wall reads: “House Helps are Human Like You.”
For the more than 50,000 domestic workers, or “house helps” working in Lusaka, low wages and poor treatment are common. While caring for children and cleaning homes is a prized commodity among the wealthy here, many domestic workers are unprotected thanks to illiteracy and poverty.
Miriam Phiri, 63, has worked as a maid since she was a young woman. Phiri is short and small. She says she has become forgetful lately too. (She had to reference her national registration card when asked how old she was.) She cannot read or write. She is a widow and the caretaker of her widowed daughter and three grandchildren. She supports her family on the below minimum wage salary she earns each month as a maid. Every year she gets a few days off for holidays but is not allowed regular leave. She says she goes to work even when she is ill. Her employer will only excuse her if she is bedridden and then, she risks losing her job.
Lately, things have become more difficult for Phiri. Her daughter took what was to be a short trip to Kitwe City, north of the capital. But she has not returned as scheduled, leaving Phiri to care for her three grandchildren alone. Because of the grandchildren, Phiri is not able to live in her employer’s home. So she must make the long trip to the Kamwala South area of Lusaka by 7 a.m., six days a week.
“I have to prepare the kids -- bathe them, dress them, cook for them. Then I take them to school,” she says of their early morning activities.
When she arrives at work she cleans her employer’s house, tends to the yards, washes dishes and does any other task her employer demands. She declined to name her employer for fear of retribution.
“I have to cook and do other chores, like washing clothes and taking their children back from school. I do this kind of work everyday, except Sundays when I have to go to church,” she says.
There are more than 50,000 domestic workers in Lusaka. According a Zambia Labor Survey, the majority is illiterate and living in extreme poverty. In Zambia, like many other countries around the world, domestic work is often not considered formal employment and often falls outside of labor protection laws. Maids and nannies are often underpaid, can be fired without notice and rarely received days off or paid leave. Labor laws here dictate that all employed persons are entitled to day leave, pension, gratuity and social security. Those rights, however, largely evade domestic workers. Salaries remain low and irregular. But in a country with a 50 percent unemployment rate, many people will take any work they can get. For the only organization working for the rights of domestic workers, United House and Domestic Workers Union of Zambia, UHDWUZ, negotiating legal wages and access to leave, especially maternity leave, remain the most difficult.
“Since I started working as a maid, I have never been given leave days and sometimes I work during holidays. My madam is very harsh on me,” Phiri says. “When I ask for a half day off on Saturdays so that I can attend women’s fellowships, my employer says no.”
Jennala Tembo, a working mother in Lusaka, employs a nanny to care for her children and clean her home. She says that while she thinks domestic workers should be given leave occasionally, paid and maternity leave options are out of the question. “It’s better to find a replacement for my maid if she goes on leave and maternity leave,” she says.
Donna Kabanda, 24, told local union representatives that she was fired without notice when her employer discovered she was three months pregnant.
“I arrived at work at 7a.m. but couldn’t find my uniform in its usual place. At first I thought I had misplaced it, but when I entered the main house, I found a woman washing dishes in the kitchen and she was wearing my uniform,” Kabanda says.
“Before I could give any reaction, my boss appeared and told me I no longer had a job. In her words she said, ‘You knew it would be impossible for you to continue working once you got pregnant. I need someone strong and dependable, so here is your salary, you can leave now,’ she told me.” Kabanda says she was shocked when she realized she had only been given 75,000 kwacha, $16 USD, half of her regular salary.
“I knew it would be pointless to try and argue with her so I left,” she says.
But Joyce Phiri, the acting president of UHDWUZ, who is no relation to Miriam Phiri, says though they don’t often receive it, domestic workers are entitled to leave.
“Domestic workers are entitled to two days leave in a month, which becomes 24 days in a year” says Phiri of UHDWUZ. She says if workers are not given paid days off during the year they are legally entitled to receive bonus payment at the end of the year. What’s more, local laws mandate that every female worker be entitled to four months of maternity leave. But for many, getting pregnant means losing a job.
According to UHDWUZ, that is just the beginning of the legal problems domestic workers routinely face here. The International Labor Organization, ILO, notes that domestic workers are often excluded from legal protections because their work occurs in private homes and people, in nearly every country in the world, choose to not formalize the employment of their domestic helpers.
For Phiri of the three-year old union, existing international labor standards do not offer much guidance on how to address the specific violations faced by domestic workers in Zambia. To make matters worse, most domestic workers are often unaware of their rights and continue to endure low pay and unfair conditions. Phiri says in her experience a majority of local domestic workers remain unaware of UHDWUZ, an organization that exists solely to help them enjoy increased employment rights. While there are more than 50,000 domestic workers, just over 3,000 are members of the union. A major problem, Phiri says, is that many employers will not allow their workers to become union members out of fear that they will forcefully lobby for more days off and increased pay.
And pay is perhaps the most prominent concern for UHDWUZ members. Phiri says most domestic workers live in extreme poverty despite their long working hours. The legal minimum wage in Zambia is 260,000 kwacha per month, about $50 USD. Miriam Phiri says she makes just 200,000 kwacha, or $42 USD per month. Donna Kabanda made just 150,000 kwacha, $32 USD. For domestic workers who live with their employers, approximately 50 percent of their wages are garnished for rent and living expenses.
“I only get 200,000 kwacha. It is not enough compared to the work I do,” says Phiri. “I am always tired. I work very hard at my employer’s house and do the same kind of work at home. I do not have adequate time to rest, but I have to work because it is the only source of living.”
Many domestic workers here have reported that they lose their jobs when they request salary increases. Union members say pay is also highly unregulated. Most employers are said to simply ask friends what they pay their workers. With half of the population currently unemployed, employers say they often offer less than minimum wage because they know people will take the jobs, whatever the pay.
In 2005, the government here warned employers against the exploitation of domestic workers, but less than half of all UHDWUZ members received leave or salary increases this year. The ILO is working with the local government to create a new policy to protect domestic workers, but the policy is in the planning stages and may not take effect for several years.
Well after dark, Phiri walks up a dusty road to her tiny, rented house where her three young grandchildren wait for her. “I am tired,” she sighs. “But I have to work to feed and educate my grandchildren.” She says she will continue to work hard so that her grandchildren don’t end up with a job like hers.
