Across the world, working men and women celebrated the historic vote June 16 by the UN’s International Labor Organization creating a new global rule to protect domestic workers. Now the work begins to make sure countries implement the rule, known as a convention, and make protections for domestic workers a reality.

Today, at the International Labor Organization’s 100th annual conference in Geneva Switzerland, the global community took a major collective step towards achieving economic and social justice for some of the world’s most vulnerable workers with the overwhelming adoption of the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention and accompanying recommendation.

Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance /La Alianza Nacional de Trabajadoras del Hogar, sends her observations on the International Labor Organization’s (ILO‘s) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where a new global rule on domestic workers is set for a vote June 16.

Devon Whitman of the AFL-CIO Field Department reports on a huge victory for domestic workers at the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

Last night, following a week of intense negotiations, governments, employers and workers from across the globe reached agreement on the 19 articles which will make up the first international convention on domestic work at the 100th annual conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO). While the final vote of the ILO’s general body will take place on June 16, the victory last night marked a major achievement on the road to winning a strong international convention setting out the rights of domestic workers the world over.

Domestic workers around the world play a crucial role in raising children, caring for the elderly and the infirm, and generally supporting those in need of household help. But these same workers are all too often exploited and have little recourse because they are largely excluded from the legal protections that safeguard almost all other workers.

The 67 workers who provide technical hookups for broadcasts and conferencing services at the United Nations are waging a battle for justice and respect.

The workers, members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1212, say they are being pressured by a contractor and the United Nations to accept drastic staff reductions that could pit union members against each other and endanger the economic security of employees nearing retirement. Ironically, the International Labor Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations, establishes international labor standards to protect workers’ rights.

The union movement around the world and in the United States is calling on the government of Bahrain to lift its state of emergency and halt its the all-out attack against union members.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reports that thousands of workers have been dismissed for taking part in trade union activities in support of the peaceful calls for greater democracy and reform. More than 750 union members and half of the leaders of the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions (GFBTU) also have been dismissed from their jobs.

As the world’s top business and government leaders gather in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual economic forum, the International Labor Organization (ILO) today released a new report showing that despite some improvements in the global economy, unemployment remains at crisis levels. Some 205 million people worldwide are officially unemployed. That doesn’t count the millions more who have given up looking for work or who are working part-time when they want to work full-time.