Guest Blogger: The Power of the Pen

Alison Judd (Methodist Women in Britain), Marissa Begonia (Justice for Domestic Workers), Diana Holland (UNITE), Catherine Kenny (Kalayaan), Owen Tudor (TUC), Jonathan Blagbrough (Children Unite)

Introducing our guest blogger Alison Judd who is World Federation Area Officer for Methodist Women in Britain and who has tirelessly campaigned on Children Unite's SEND your gLOVE campaign: 

Are you one of those who sent postcards or wrote a letter to Vince Cable or your local MP asking our government to ratify the International Labour Organization’s  Convention on Domestic Workers (C 189)? Perhaps you signed one of the 1242 Fair Trade rubber gloves that were handed over to Tessa Munt MP at the Department of Business Innovations and Skills (BIS) in Westminster on  8 July 2013. Well the good news is that Vince Cable took notice and invited representatives from Children Unite (Jonathan Blagbrough) and Methodist Women in Britain (me) along with others from the TUC, UNITE, and other concerned NGOs to a round table meeting about the protection of domestic workers. This took place at the BIS Department on Wednesday 12 February.

There were around 15 of us in all and we were given half and hour to make our views known.  I felt I was there as a ‘concerned member of the public’ and more particularly, as it stated on my large table- top name label, representing Methodist Women in Britain. Vince Cable’s opening remarks showed he didn’t see the point of the C 189 believing there are already sufficient laws in place offering protection to domestic workers and that this Convention would require government inspections of private homes. He told us that a new Modern Anti-slavery Bill is being drafted (by Karen Bradley MP, who was also present) and invited us to identify the gaps in existing legislation so they could be addressed. He even suggested that he wanted to see how the Convention worked in other countries before agreeing to sign up to it ourselves. Owen Tudor (from the TUC) was quick to challenge him on that saying the UK government should not rely on other countries to test out such legislation for us but should take reponsibility and exercise leadership.

We told Vince Cable we disagreed with his assessment of the Convention and of the ability of existing legislation to protect vulnerable domestic workers; that domestic worker agencies are not properly regulated, and should not be exempt from health and safety issues. He appeared to listen carefully to what we were saying and he certainly made sure that everyone there had a chance to speak.  In fact he chaired the meeting as I would have expected: firmly and expertly. I sensed there was a sort of protocol that everyone was observing (even in my case without knowing what the protocol was!) Anyway, it was pretty clear when it was my turn to speak and I had my mini- speech  prepared!  

Since we were encouraged to identify the gaps in existing legislation, I suggested that one of the gaps involved the protection of children. I urged the BIS to realise that implementing the C189 would effectively address the needs of vulnerable child domestic workers who need even more protection from abuse and injustice than adults. I also hope Vince got the message that Methodist Women in Britain, being in connexion with 61 million Methodists world wide, are a force to be reckoned with!

Keep writing!

Alison Judd

World Federation Area Officer, Methodist Women in Britain

Thanks to Audrey Guichon of Anti-Slavery International who also attended the meeting at BIS and took the photo!