The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) joins the global labour movement in commemorating International Domestic Workers’ Day, a day dedicated to recognising the invaluable contribution of domestic workers and reaffirming their right to decent work, fair remuneration, dignity, and social protection.Domestic workers are workers. Their labour is real, productive, and indispensable. Every day, they clean our homes, care for our children, nurse the elderly, prepare meals, and sustain households, making it possible for many others to participate in the economy. Yet despite the essential nature of their work,
domestic workers remain among the most exploited, underpaid, and least protected workers in Zimbabwe.Many endure excessively long working hours, poor remuneration, verbal and physical abuse, insecure employment, and the denial of basic labour rights. Too often, their work is dismissed as “help” rather than recognised as skilled labour deserving of respect, legal protection, and decent wages.ARTUZ is deeply concerned that the recently approved minimum wage of US$90 for domestic workers falls far short of what is required for a worker to live in dignity. No worker should be condemned to poverty wages while contributing meaningfully to society. A wage that cannot provide adequate food, shelter, healthcare, transport, and education for a family is not a decent wage.Equally revealing is the Government’s decision to gazette a US$270 minimum wage for workers in unclassified operations. This exposes the contradictions within our labour market. A domestic worker earning US$90, a worker earning US$270, and a teacher earning a salary below a living wage all buy from the same shop, pay the same transport fares, purchase the same medicine, and face the same rising cost of living. Poverty does not discriminate by profession. If US$90 is inadequate for a domestic worker, US$270 is equally insufficient for any worker to live with dignity in Zimbabwe’s current economic environment. Government cannot continue expecting quality service delivery from workers while institutionalising poverty wages across different sectors.As a teachers’ union, we recognise that the struggles of domestic workers are inseparable from the struggles of teachers, nurses, security guards, farm workers, and every member of the working class. An injury to one worker is an injury to all workers. The fight for decent work cannot be selective. It must embrace every worker, regardless of occupation.On this day, ARTUZ calls upon the Government of Zimbabwe to strengthen the protection of domestic workers by guaranteeing meaningful collective bargaining, enforcing labour standards, eliminating exploitation and abuse, expanding access to social security, and ensuring that every worker receives a genuine living wage that reflects the actual cost of living.We also call upon employers to respect the humanity and dignity of domestic workers by providing fair contracts, reasonable working hours, safe working conditions, and treatment consistent with the principles of equality and justice.As we commemorate International Domestic Workers’ Day, ARTUZ stands in unwavering solidarity with domestic workers and all low-paid workers across Zimbabwe. A just society is measured not by how it treats the powerful, but by how it protects those whose labour is too often overlooked.Domestic Workers Are Workers. Teachers Are Workers. Every Worker Deserves a Living Wage.Solidarity Forever.Issued by ARTUZ Information Department 📧 ruraltrsunion@gmail.com📞 +263777473135 / 776129336 / 775643192Follow us: @ARTUZ_teachers