In a world where everything goes faster and faster and where the life span is extending, help is often needed for the education of children, care for the elderly or housework. Some of us rely on domestic workers or on care workers.

According to a study from the International Labour Organization, there are 60 million domestic workers in the world. But of those 60 million, 90% don’t have social protection! And this phenomenon also concerns the industrialised countries; as an example, in France 30% of these workers don’t contribute to the compulsory national social security.

Besides, most of those workers are women; they represent 80% according to the ILO. And they are often irregular migrants.

This undeclared work leaves them without medical coverage, paid leaves, trade unions etc. and often leads to abuses. The words “Modern slavery” are sometimes used when they work more than 14hours a day, when they are locked up in their workplaces or even exposed to sexual or physical violence.

So the European deputies go into action to stop this. In a non-legislative resolution adopted on April 28^th, they require a framework for the recognition of the care workers and of the childminders’ statuses and a directive on the caregivers’ leaves. It would help those workers to get wages, minimum standards of social protection and access to training. Then, there will be up to the member states to set up a legal framework to define the rights and duties of those workers and to include them in the national laws.

There are also good practices in the broad field of the human services system, a social welfare group member of Ipse is of a character of excellence. It is the IRCEM group. It is a social welfare group about employments in the field of family and human services: employees, employers and pensioners of this field in France.

Non-profit organization, with joint management, enterprising and curious, the IRCEM group and its three institutions (Retirement, providence and health insurance) are supervised by management boards made of trade unions representatives of employers and employees.