Domestic Worker's campaign in the UK, RESPECT's lobbying in the EU, and the NL context

1. General context

picture of Netherlands population and migrant population:

total pop. 16.6 million; about 20% of foreign background (at least one parent is non-Dutch - they are counting until the second generation); 11% of non-western foreign origin (Japan is considered western!) led by Turks, Moroccans, and Surinamese. (Statistics Netherlands)
a telling story: "Just days before he was assassinated, Fortuyn had announced that he would grant amnesty to all rejected asylum seekers and other irregular migrants who were currently in the Netherlands, had been there for at least five years, and spoke Dutch."
number of asylum seekers in 2010 (15,150) was less than half of the 2000 figure

1. Cyrus, Norbert. 2008. "Being Illegal in Europe: Strategies and Policies for Fairer Treatment of Migrant Domestic Workers" in Lutz, Helen

- summarizes EU policy on illegal migration and undeclared work
- suggests alternatives

2. FNV-B and RESPECT
possible contacts:
"If you want more information about the domestic workers and FNV Bondgenoten or if you want to become a member you can contact Marianne Jekkers 06-13933207 m.jekkers@bg.fnv.nl (Nederlands, Español, English) Or Rebecca Pabon 06-51257247 r.pabon@bg.fnv.nl (Español, English)"

story of Coring de los Reyes in

on the history of RESPECT:
Schenken, Helen. 2005. "Domestic slavery" versus "workers rights": political self-mobilization of migrant domestic workers in the European Union, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California San Diego, available at

Filipino organizations Waling Waling (Pearce 2000) and Kalayaan in the UK started and became the model of the RESPECT Network: a core (self-help) organization of migrants themselves worked in dialogue with an organization of both migrants and supporters that operated in the public sphere -> in the European level, you have Kalayaan (UK-based) and SOLIDAR (Brussels-based); "multi-level strategies"

documentation of the "successful" British campaign (Ariyadasa 1998) and a critical assessment (Anderson 2004)


in UK, domestic workers were aided by TGWU (Transport and General Workers' Union)

Shenker, Helen. 2003. "RESPECT for all: The Political Self-Organization of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the European Union", Refuge: Canada's periodical on refugees, Vol 21, No 3 (2003): Global Movements for Refugee and Migrant Rights

"Clearly, empowerment, subjectivity, and a rights-based framework are central to the success of domestic migrant workers."