Armenia’s First Union for Informal and Domestic Workers Offers Lessons in Protection

The report identifies trust as the starting point for organizing, with relationships helping workers feel comfortable discussing their employment and concerns.

Armenia's first trade union dedicated to informal and domestic workers is providing lessons on how to reach people who often lack contracts, clear employment conditions and effective protection. A new International Labour Organization report examines organizing efforts that helped establish the "Yourself" Trade Union, known as INKD, in September 2025. Created under the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia, the union offers a route to collective representation for workers outside formal employment arrangements.

Informal employment accounts for a share of work in Armenia, and domestic workers frequently lack written agreements or effective access to labour and social protection. Women face particular difficulties because of gender gaps in employment and their disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care. These conditions make sustained outreach and practical support essential to helping workers understand their rights and seek better employment terms.

The report, Building trust and protection: Lessons learned from trade union organizing among informal and domestic workers in Armenia, draws on the experiences of the confederation, organizers and workers themselves. It documents an ILO-supported initiative to strengthen representation and protection, showing that organizing requires time and continued engagement. Care worker and union member Heriknaz Baghramyan described the value of having somewhere to share her experience, be heard and receive support.

Trust and practical experience shape workers' decisions

The report identifies trust as the starting point for organizing, with relationships helping workers feel comfortable discussing their employment and concerns. Fear of documentation and taxation, combined with gaps in information, can keep people in informal arrangements. Many workers also doubt that their conditions can improve, making it necessary for organizers to address expectations as well as explain available protections.

Cultural and community contexts influence how organizers approach workers, requiring strategies that respond to local relationships and circumstances. Direct experience of exploitation can make workers more open to written contracts and trade union membership, according to the findings. Union growth develops gradually through trust among peers and confidence in collective representation and social dialogue, reinforcing the need for patient engagement.

Formal employment requires protection and stronger institutions

The report was developed through an ILO Regular Budget Supplementary Account-funded initiative supporting Armenia's response to informality in the context of a refugee crisis. Guided by the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), the initiative combines efforts to prevent informalization, extend protection and promote productive formal employment. Its work includes strengthening employment services and building the capacity of government institutions and employers' and workers' organizations to support that transition.

Domestic workers need recognition and a collective voice

The findings complement ILO capacity-building activities that help national institutions and social partners address domestic workers' vulnerabilities and promote decent work in the sector. They bring workers' organizing experience into that process and reflect principles in the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), including collective bargaining, fair working conditions, legal protection and recognition of domestic work as work. The report calls for continued outreach, stronger protection mechanisms and sustained social dialogue, placing workers' voices and collective representation within a broader approach to formalization.