OSH laws for housekeepers – under the spotlight in Argentina, India and Indonesia

Yale Law School has conducted a study for UNITE HERE on if and how health and safety legislation is applied to hotel housekeepers . The study covers Argentina, India and Indonesia.

This preliminary report identifies: (1) the OSH problems that hotel housekeepers face; (2) the international legal frameworks available for ensuring proper OSH mechanisms; and (3) the OSH laws of Argentina, India, and Indonesia.

These three countries were chosen because they represent geographical diversity and varied levels of economic and legal development, and because these are countries with strong union partners in the sector.

The preliminary report finds that, although there is a clear hierarchy in the three countries’ legal regimes-Argentina has the most developed OSH laws and Indonesia the least-all three have gaps that need to be filled in order to ensure protection of OSH for hotel housekeepers and compliance with international law.

The examination of the gaps in the three countries’ legal regimes has led to specific suggested avenues for reform and further research. These gaps in occupational health and safety might be most properly addressed on the international level, because corporate policy for many hotels is made at the global level and because these gaps are often symptoms of worldwide trends.

Full report click here, only in English.