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Ida Le Blanc

General Secretary

National Union of Domestic Employees

Wattley Circular, Mt. Pleasant Rd. Arima Trinidad and Tobago Phone: 868-667-5247 Fax: 868-664-0546 domestic@tstt.net.tt

As General Secretary of the National Union of Domestic Employees (NUDE) in Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Le Blanc represents domestic and other low-wage workers, particularly women, at the grassroots level. She also represents such individuals on issues such as wrongful dismissals, retrenchment, maternity protection violations, and violations of minimum wage requirements in courts and at the ministerial level. She coordinates worker education on existing labor legislation and develops advocacy strategies to improve the terms and conditions of contracts and reform labor legislation. Her organization's relentless lobbying has led to substantial improvements in the laws covering domestic work. The across-the-board minimum wage for all workers and the Maternity Protection Act of 1998 now apply to domestic workers. The Minimum Wage Order for Household Assistants now guarantees provisions of sick leave, maternity leave, and annual vacation leave. NUDE also succeeded in lobbying the Parliament to pass the Unremunerated Work Act 1996, which granted approval for the counting of unwaged work in national statistics.

Focus: Gender, Human Rights, Jobs, Trinidad and Tobago, Americas

Language Fluency:

English

Last Updated: Sep 22, 2006