A total of 2,404 domestic workers in Almeria will be able to access unemployment benefits as of Tuesday. The regulation, approved by the Council of Ministers, guarantees a historic advance for workers who are affiliated to this special Social Security scheme, the vast majority of whom are women.
The decision will bring the rights of domestic workers into line with those of other wage earners. In addition to unemployment benefits, it will also improve this group’s access to occupational risk prevention and protection against dismissal. The new law also gives effect to the ratification of Convention 189 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which regulates equal treatment with other workers.
«Once again, the government shows for whom it governs, for the middle and working class of this country. The measure ensures that, for the first time, domestic workers have access to unemployment benefits. This puts an end to an unacceptable injustice and settles a historic debt with thousands of women», underlined the sub-delegate of the Government, José María Martín.
The text has been drawn up in contact with the trade union organisations and the platforms of domestic workers who have been demanding this regulation for decades, and resolves the equalisation with employed workers, both in terms of the system for terminating the employment relationship and in terms of unemployment benefits.