The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) published an analysis on the “Pilot Program for the Incorporation of Domestic Workers”, Which more than a year after it started, presented recommendations so that, as scheduled in April 2021, it will start formally and become mandatory.
After acknowledging that the Mexican government has made various efforts to dignify paid domestic work in the country, the ILO stated that the design and operation of the permanent insurance regime is essential, since its beginning is scheduled, at the latest, to the month of April 2021.
Thus, he recommended introducing incentives and innovative practices to increase coverage, so that a figure could be created with fiscal financing to reduce the cost of insurance; as well as building a non-traditional inspection and developing a national communication plan.
In addition, introduce measures to generate additional value for domestic workers registered in the IMSS: subsidized tickets for public transport, training courses, formal education programs, loans and commercial discounts.
According to the study, the number of registered workers has grown substantially compared to those registered before the pilot test; It has even resisted the generalized phenomenon of massive departures from most of the social security institutions in Latin America, as a result of the confinement and closure of activities imposed in the fight against Covid-19. According to the official IMSS figures, as of September 2020, 25,369 domestic workers were reported, a number that has shown a constant increase since the program began in April 2019; However, the people included in the pilot test represent about 1% of the almost 2.3 million reported in the Inegi.
In addition, 83% of the domestic workers affiliated to June 2020, had registered one or more family beneficiaries, which add up to a total of 26,605, distributed as follows: 62.7% children; 23.0% spouses or partner; and, 14.3% mother or father.
With registration, better salary
Regarding salaries reported on the one hand, in the month of May 2019, the first with domestic workers registered in the pilot test, the average registered salary of 4,780 pesos is almost 24% higher than that corresponding to the traditional voluntary modality of 3,857; the difference remains at 15.5% in the month of July 2020.
The number of registered domestic workers from June 2019 to June 2020 grew nationwide by 706%, with states exceeding 1,000% such as Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chiapas and Puebla; however, “these high percentages are normal in processes of such recent start, but they also reflect that some states took a little longer to get a reaction from their employers and domestic workers,” the analysis indicated.
The crisis caused by Covid-19According to the report, “it has only come to exhibit, in the most cruel way possible, the precarious employment conditions of domestic workers”, which is why the challenges involved in managing the mandatory insurance of a population of almost 2.3 Millions of female workers are making it necessary to progressively adopt a package of initiatives to achieve better results.
Highlights
- In early December 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) issued the historic ruling in favor of domestic workers to receive social security.
- On January 30, 2019, the General Rules for the pilot test for the incorporation of domestic workers into the Mandatory Social Security Regime were presented to the IMSS Technical Council.
- On April 1 of the same year, the pilot test entered into operation nationwide, allowing domestic workers to pay worker-employer fees in advance.
- In July 2019, multiple reforms to the Federal Labor Law and the Social Security Law were published.
- On December 12 of that year, the Senate of Mexico, in a unanimous vote, ratified ILO Convention 189.
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