Across Borders, One Struggle: Voices from Colombia and Brazil on the Legacy and Future of Domestic Workers’ Organizing

At a recent event hosted by The Voice of Domestic Workers during their Unite Migrant Domestic Workers Branch meeting on Sunday 12 October, domestic and care workers gathered to hear the results of new research exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives and livelihoods. The research was presented by academics Dr Louisa Acciari from University College London (UCL) and  Dr Sabah Boufkhed from the University of Manchester.

Two special guests joined the meeting: inspiring representatives from Colombia (Yenny Hurtado) and Brazil (Cleide Pinto), both long-time leaders in the movement for domestic workers’ rights in Latin America.

After listening to the research findings, the guests shared reflections and stories that connected past and present struggles, offering messages of solidarity to The Voice of Domestic Workers and to migrant domestic workers everywhere.

“Without you, they can’t do anything.” — The Message from Brazil

The Brazilian representative began her message with a powerful reflection:

“It is harder to be a migrant domestic worker. The situation is difficult for us everywhere — but even more so when you are far from your home country. Yet what I see here is strength and organisation. You must understand your power — because without you, your employers can do nothing. They need you.”

Yenny Hurtado, from Colombia, spoke with deep respect and pride in seeing how migrant domestic workers in the UK have built strong organisations like The Voice of Domestic Workers, continuing a long global tradition of domestic workers’ organising for dignity and rights.

“It has been a long road,” she continued. “In Brazil, they started organising in the 1930s. In Colombia, we began in the 1970s. It was not easy, but we did it — and so can you.”

The Colombian Journey: From Invisibility to Legislation

The movement of domestic workers in Colombia began humbly in the early 1970s.

“It took us four years to gather a group of just twenty domestic workers,” she recalled. “There was nothing — no law, no recognition, no rights.”

Many of the early organisers could not read or write, but they found allies among university students and lawyers who helped them draft their union’s constitution and navigate the legal processes to register as a trade union. This collaboration was crucial in giving voice and structure to a movement that had long been silenced.

By 1988, domestic workers’ organisations from across Latin America came together to form the Latin American Confederation of Domestic Workers — and she proudly shared,

“I am one of the founders.”

Colombia later became one of the first countries in Latin America to approve comprehensive legislation for domestic workers in 2012, following the adoption of the ILO Convention 189 — a global milestone that recognises domestic work as real work. The new law guaranteed domestic workers rights to a minimum wage, regulated working hours, paid holidays, pensions, and access to health care.

“It was the result of twenty years of struggle to get the ILO to recognise domestic workers as workers,” she said. “The Latin American Confederation and our Filipino sisters played a leading role. Together, we showed the world that domestic work is work.”

The Brazilian Struggle: Decades of Organising for Equality

The representative from Brazil then shared the long and determined history of domestic workers’ organising in her country. It began in 1936, led by a Black domestic worker named Laudelina de Campos Mello, who became one of the first to demand dignity and rights for domestic workers. Supported by the Church and the Black Movement, this early movement planted the seeds of what would become a decades-long campaign.

Yet it was not until 1988 — more than fifty years later — that Brazil’s new constitution finally recognised domestic workers’ right to organise into unions. Their first major legal victory was the right to have a signed work contract — a right that other workers had long enjoyed.

In 2015, a landmark law was passed granting nearly full equality with other workers. Domestic workers gained rights to overtime pay, pensions, maternity leave, unemployment benefits, a minimum wage, paid holidays, and regulated working hours.

However, as the Brazilian leader explained, challenges remain:

“Even though the legislation is strong, it’s very difficult to enforce. Labour inspectors cannot enter private homes, so many domestic workers still do not have formal contracts. Informality remains a huge problem.”

She also highlighted how Brazil took a unique approach to ratifying ILO Convention 189:

“Most countries ratify first, then change their laws. In Brazil, we did it the other way around. We changed our constitution first, then created a law, and only afterwards ratified the convention.” This careful legal strategy ensured that once ratified, the convention could be fully implemented

Shared Lessons, Shared Power

Both speakers’ stories remind us that the fight for domestic workers’ rights is global, long-term, and powered by extraordinary courage and persistence. Their journeys — from early organising meetings in the 1930s and 1970s, to the founding of the Latin American Confederation of Domestic Workers, to the adoption of ILO Convention 189 — are part of a shared international story of resistance and hope.

And their message to The Voice of Domestic Workers and migrant domestic workers in the UK was clear and empowering:

“You are strong. You are organised. And you must keep fighting. Because without you, nothing works.”

A Final Word

From Latin America to London, domestic workers continue to prove that solidarity knows no borders. Their histories remind us that progress is possible — but only through collective struggle, persistence, and faith in our shared strength.

As our Colombian sister said so powerfully:

“It is the same struggle everywhere. The same questions, the same problems. But we have shown that we can win — step by step, law by law, together.”

The Voice of Domestic Workers thanks our sisters from Colombia and Brazil for sharing their histories and solidarity. Their stories are our stories — part of one global movement demanding recognition, respect, and justice for all domestic workers.

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