ILR Press Everyday Transgressions: Domestic Workers' Transnational Challenge to International Labor Law

Adelle Blackett tells the story behind the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention No. 189, and its accompanying Recommendation No. 201 which in 2011 created the first comprehensive international standards to extend fundamental protections and rights to the millions of domestic workers laboring in other peoples' homes throughout the world. As the principal legal architect, Blackett is able to take us behind the scenes to show us how Convention No. 189 transgresses the everyday law of the household workplace to embrace domestic workers' human rights claim to be both workers like any other, and workers like no other. In doing so, she discusses the importance of understanding historical forms of invisibility, recognizes the influence of the domestic workers themselves, and weaves in poignant experiences, infusing the discussion of laws and standards with intimate examples and sophisticated analyses. Looking to the future, she ponders how international institutions such as the ILO will address labor market informality alongside national and regional law reform. Regardless of what comes next, Everyday Transgressions establishes that domestic workers' victory is a victory for the ILO and for all those who struggle for an inclusive, transnational vision of labor law, rooted in social justice. Review "Everyday Transgressions is sophisticated and multi-faceted. The topic is profoundly felt as well as carefully argued." Author: Eileen Boris, University of California, Santa Barbara, and coauthor of award-winning Caring for America "Everyday Transgressions is a timely tribute, during the ILO's centenary, to domestic workers whose contribution to the global economy has grossly been undervalued. This book argues for equality-based inclusion of domestic work in international standard setting and implementation, and ultimately in labor law itself. Adelle Blackett has sent a powerful message." Author: Evance Kalula, ILO Committee on Freedom of Association "Adelle Blackett weaves an inspiring account of the International Domestic Workers Federation and their struggle to transform domestic service and fight for social justice. This is a must read for students of international labor movements, activists organizing precarious workers, and readers committed to social justice." Author: Mary Romero, author of the award-winning The Maid's Daughter "Everyday Transgressions is an unparalleled reflection on the human toll of domestic work―its sacrifices, its gifts, its secrets kept, and its often taken-for-granted infringements upon both basic contract law as well as global human rights. Adelle Blackett listens closely to those who must negotiate between the strictures of false intimacy so frequently licensed when one's workplace is a home. This beautiful volume is local and universal, generous and unsparing, gently compelling yet tremendously urgent." Author: Patricia Williams, Columbia University, author of the monthly column Diary of a Mad Law Professor for The Nation Magazine. "Everyday Transgressions captures the legal, social and procedural contexts for the history-making establishment of transnational legal standards for workers employed in private households. Adelle Blackett's deep expertise gave her a key role and front-row seat in the expansion of labor rights she skillfully documents in this timely and authoritative book." Author: Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance, USA About the Author Adelle Blackett is Professor of Law and Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development at McGill University.