The Contentious Politics of Labor Rights as Human Rights: Lessons from the Implementation of Domestic Workers Rights in the Philippines

The 189 Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers is considered a key example of the ongoing process of convergence between labor rights and human rights. This article offers an empirically grounded assessment and a novel contentious politics perspective on its implementation in the Philippines. It argues that, while the convergence between human rights and labor rights was instrumental to the recognition of domestic workers rights, in the post-ratification phase, its long-term sustainability is challenged by frictions in the way of framing issues and the modus operandi, strategies, and goals of different social coalitions.