Karnataka govt warned: Don't pass domestic workers Bill without consulting workers

By A Representative 

The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and members of the All-India Workers Forum have submitted preliminary comments to the Karnataka Labour Department on the Draft Karnataka Domestic Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, urging the government to strengthen rights-based provisions and ensure wider public consultation. The submission was made on November 15 in response to the state’s call for public comments on the draft law.

NAPM welcomed the government’s initiative to bring a legal framework for the protection and welfare of domestic workers, one of the largest and most vulnerable segments of the informal workforce. The alliance stated that domestic workers have powered households and the economy through largely invisible labour, yet continue to face exploitation and exclusion due to the absence of legal safeguards. It said the bill’s introduction acknowledges decades of organizing and union struggles by domestic workers across Karnataka and India.

However, NAPM expressed deep disappointment that the draft bill has been published only in English and has not been made available in Kannada, despite repeated demands from unions. The organisation said it is unjust and undemocratic to close the consultation window without providing the bill in the state’s official language, which prevents meaningful engagement by lakhs of domestic workers, the majority of whom are women from socially and economically marginalized communities.

The alliance has called on the Karnataka government to immediately publish the full translated Kannada version of the bill, extend the deadline for public comments to at least December 31, 2025, and hold open district and taluka-level consultations with domestic workers unions, women’s organizations and civil society groups. It urged the government to incorporate feedback from workers’ collectives before finalizing the legislation.

NAPM also submitted detailed section-wise recommendations, arguing that the bill must expand the range of rights guaranteed to domestic workers, including the right to collective bargaining, protection against discrimination, and safeguards against arbitrary punishment. The submission proposed replacing prohibitive language on employment agreements with a mandate requiring employers to formalize contracts, ensuring workers are not penalized for lapses in registration processes, and strengthening responsibilities of the state in regulating working conditions, wages, leave, and grievance redressal. NAPM recommended restructuring the welfare board, ensuring district-level boards and mechanisms for social audits, and suggested shifting from criminal to civil penalties in most circumstances.

The alliance proposed that the bill be renamed as the Karnataka Domestic Workers (Recognition of Rights, Entitlements & Social Security) Bill, 2025, to reflect a stronger rights-based approach and called for comprehensive financial planning and public data transparency.

NAPM stated that the All-India Workers Forum brings together informal-sector labour unions including domestic workers and that NAPM itself is a three-decade-old non-party platform of progressive peoples’ movements. The submission was copied to the Chief Minister, Labour Minister and Chief Secretary of Karnataka, expressing hope that the government will consider the demands in “right earnest.”