Though rooted in colonialism, domestic work has become a hallmark of modern urban living in Mozambique. There are more than 39000 registered domestic workers living in and around Maputo - a 30% increase in 10 years - and domestic work has become the most important occupation for urban women, after self-employment (INE 2007). So vital is domestic work to Maputo’s economy that when the Mozambican state moved to extend labour protection to domestic workers in 2008, the Ministry of Labour removed minimum wage language for fear that employers, many who are themselves minimum wage earners, would no longer be able to participate in the labour force.
Despite the importance of paid domestic work, organised labour has historically paid little attention to this sector. In contrast to South Africa, where the extension of labour protection to domestic workers was seen as key to redressing the injustices of apartheid and engendering democracy, in Mozambique this was outside Frelimo’s - and thus the Organização dos Trabalhadores Moçambicanos’s (Mozambican Workers’ Organization –OTM) - political imagination.
This article explores why domestic work developed into a strategic growth area for organised labour in Mozambique, arguing that ultimately, unions are themselves sites of struggle between competing interests and visions, capable of shifting direction, strategies and tactics.
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