PHOTO: Some domestic workers in Monrovia
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Domestic Workers Union of Liberia is encouraging domestic workers throughout the country to take advantage of its leadership and conflict resolution skills in addressing problems they have with their employers.
The union’s President, Marthaline Cole said the organization has observed that the rights of domestic workers have been violated, especially in the wake of the outbreak of Coronavirus in Liberia.
Mrs. Cole was speaking recently, when the Domestic Workers Union of Liberia with funding from the International Domestic Workers Federation distributed hundreds of 25kg bags of rice, containers of vegetable oil, bottles of sanitizers and nose masks to over 200 domestic workers in Monrovia .
According to her, the union is prepared to mediate conflict between the employers and domestic workers, because the organization has received reports that many of them were victimized as a result of low salaries, arbitrary dismissals and abuses of labor rights.
This operation was funded by the International Domestic Workers Federation.
Mrs. Cole commended the Federation for donating money to assist their members in Liberia and assured them that the union will always remain a member of the global body of domestic workers.
According to her, there are representatives of Liberia’s Domestic Workers Union in several parts of the country to address problems erupting between domestic workers and their employers
The head of the union pointed out that the exact number of the domestic workers throughout the country is not yet known, because the union has not been able to conduct a census of them. But she put their number in the thousands
The union is currently headquartered in the Township of Gardnersville where the Liberia Labor Congress is located.