Quote of the Day
“Labour is not a commodity.” — International Labour Organization, Declaration of Philadelphia, May 10, 1944
These five words appear in the Declaration of Philadelphia, adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1944. More than eight decades later, they still raise an uncomfortable question about how we treat people who work for us.
Imagine a young man who works as a security guard.
He arrives before everyone else and leaves after everyone has gone home. He spends long nights watching over a building, sometimes without a proper place to rest.
His employer knows his name but rarely asks how he is doing.
When he requests a day off to attend to a family emergency, he is reminded that someone else could easily replace him.
Now think about the woman who cleans an office, the driver who works late into the night or the young person serving customers in a busy restaurant.
How often do we see the work they perform without thinking about the people performing it?
There is nothing wrong with expecting employees to do their jobs properly. Employers have responsibilities, businesses have expenses, and workers must also be accountable.
But employment should never become an excuse to disregard someone’s dignity.
A worker is not a machine that can simply be switched on when needed and forgotten afterward.
They have families, responsibilities, worries and aspirations beyond the workplace.
Sometimes, respect begins with ordinary things: paying people on time, allowing reasonable rest, listening to their concerns and speaking to them without humiliation.
Perhaps the real test of how much we value human dignity is not how we treat people who have authority over us, but how we treat those whose livelihoods depend on us.
Source: ILO — Declaration of Philadelphia.
Did You Know?
Someone working inside your home is still a worker with rights.
Imagine a woman who wakes up before everyone in the household.
She prepares breakfast, gets the children ready for school, cleans the house and spends much of the afternoon cooking.
By evening, she is exhausted.
But when she asks for time to rest, someone reminds her that she should be grateful to have a place to live and food to eat.
Does providing accommodation mean an employer can expect someone to work without proper rest?
International labour standards say otherwise.
In 2011, the International Labour Organization adopted the Domestic Workers Convention, No. 189, to promote decent working conditions for people employed in private households.
The Convention addresses matters such as working hours, wages, rest periods, protection from abuse and clear employment conditions.
One particularly important provision is Article 10, which establishes a minimum weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours.
Article 9 also addresses the freedom of live-in domestic workers to leave the household during their rest periods and retain their identity documents.
These standards matter because domestic work is often performed behind closed doors.
According to the ILO, approximately 75.6 million people worldwide work as domestic workers. Its 2021 findings indicated that 81% were informally employed, leaving many without adequate legal and social protections.
In some communities, domestic workers are described as helpers, housegirls or houseboys.
Such descriptions can sometimes make people overlook the fact that these individuals are performing real work.
The Convention does not automatically become binding law in every country. Its application depends on ratification and national legal frameworks.
But the principle behind it is straightforward.
Working in someone’s home should not mean leaving your dignity at the door.
Sources: ILO — Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) · ILO — Domestic Workers.
For Discussion
In our communities, do we treat domestic workers as employees deserving fair wages, rest and respect, or do we sometimes expect them to be available whenever we need them?
And when someone lives in the household where they work, how can we ensure that their employment does not become a situation in which they feel unable to speak up or leave?
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