#EESC shines spotlight on vital role of live-in carers

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has adopted an opinion on the rights of live-in care workers. It urges policymakers to fully recognize their contribution to long-term care, to treat them in a similar way to other care providers and to regularize the status of undocumented workers.

 An ageing population and cuts in public-sector spending have created a shortfall in the provision of long-term care. While live-in care workers – who are often unregulated – have helped to alleviate acute labor shortages in this sector, many work in precarious labor conditions including bogus self-employment. Eastern Europe supplies many live-in care workers to other countries, despite a depleted domestic care workforce, and if fired, these workers can find themselves homeless.

“In the context of a poorly recognized and remunerated care workforce, live-in care workers have for too long remained invisible to policymakers,” says Adam Rogalewski, EESC Rapporteur on the opinion.

Full recognition and rights

 At present, there is no EU-level legislation on this and no proposals in the pipeline. As a first step, the EESC wants to start a discussion on a common occupational definition of “live-in” care work in Europe. This should recognize live-in care as a form of home care provision and cover employment arrangements for workers living in private residences. The EESC believes that live-in care workers should be treated as part of the system of long-term care provision, with similar rights as other care workers when it comes to remuneration, health and safety protection, social security and the right to freedom of association.

In practice, this means:

• Including the rights of live-in carers and their care recipients in future revisions or proposals of European and member states’ legislation;
• monitoring and improving posting of live-in carers by implementing the principle of equal pay for equal work,
• tackling social dumping and exploitation;
• proactively regulating the long-term care sector, especially in relation to compliance with employment laws, to ensure care recipients as well as live-in care workers are protected, and;
• achieving member state ratification and implementation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No 189 to regularize the status of live-in care workers.

In addition, significant numbers of these workers possess skills and qualifications resulting from years of experience or from unrecognized formal training and certification programs. These should be recognized. Financial support for patients relying on live-in care workers must also be met through adequate long-term and sustainable public investment.

The role of civil society

In order to effect these changes, trade unions, employers and civil society organizations need to get involved in policy planning. A major achievement of the EESC’s opinion is that it successfully brought together advocates for a sustainable and equitable long-term care sector with labor and migrant rights advocates.

The EESC plans to build on this and promote the development of European policies that support carers, care recipients and their families by, among other things, organizing a conference on the future of live-in care work in Europe in the second half of 2017 to discuss concrete steps towards properly regulating the sector.

“We believe that investment in long-term care needs to be embraced positively as an economic opportunity and as a priority area for job creation, social support for families and gender equality,” says Rogalewski. “Investment in the sector enhances workforce participation rates and provides a possible way out of the economic crisis.”

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