Why domestic workers have a right to organize

It has been five years since the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights was first introduced in the New York state legislature. Finally, after over 70 years of being excluded from labor laws, the 200,000 nannies, housekeepers and elder caregivers are gearing up for the final weeks before passage during this legislative session.

The campaign for the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights has been led by the group Domestic Workers United, founded in 2000 and currently organizing women workers, largely immigrants from the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America. According to its website, “Domestic workers care for the most important elements of New Yorkers’ lives: their families and homes. Without the labor of domestic workers, many employers could not participate in the workforce, from Wall Street to hospitals.” (domesticworkersunited.org)

The bill of rights campaign has been highly successful in bringing to light the super-exploitation of domestic workers.

“The working class has been in crisis long before the economists said anything,” Joyce Gill-Campbell, a DWU organizer and activist, told Workers World. “Instead of bailing out the auto companies or the big banks, they should be bailing out the auto worker, the farm worker or domestic worker. We, the workers, should be the ones on those committees deciding where the bailout money should go.”

She continued, “Out of a workforce of 200,000 domestic workers, 18 percent live below the poverty line. Only 13 percent of workers earn a livable wage despite the fact that 50 percent of the workers in our industry are the primary income earners for their households.”

Data gathered by DWU show that domestic workers work upwards of 10 to 16 hours per day, with the vast majority receiving no overtime pay, health insurance or regular vacations. Domestic workers often work for the same employer for several years but are generally fired without notice, severance pay or recourse. Many workers have reported being cheated by their employers who owe them back wages and refuse to pay, or they have been forced to use their own money to pay for food or items for the household without reimbursement.

Legalized slave labor

“When you hear all the stories, I don’t think slavery was really abolished in the U.S.; it has just been camouflaged,” says Gill-Campbell, who is from the Carib—bean. “Over one-half of the industry works 50 to 60 hours a week, but 40 percent of workers can’t pay their phone bill; 37 percent can’t pay their rent; and one in five domestic workers reports not having enough food to eat.”

Stemming from the days of slavery in the U.S., it was historically African Americans who were domestics as well as field workers. Now the current “house” and “field” slave system is majority immigrants of color, many of whom are undocumented and face super-exploitation.

The National Labor Relations Act that supposedly guarantees U.S. employees the right to organize specifically excludes both domestic and farm workers from having the right to organize.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the federal minimum wage rate, maximum hours and overtime standards, excluded domestic workers until 1974. Currently this act still excludes coverage for “casual” employees such as babysitters and “companions” for the sick or elderly, while live-in domestic workers cannot get overtime under the FLSA.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act explicitly excludes domestic workers and until recently farm workers from fair legal standards and protections. Even the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” does not include domestic workers and farm workers because employers with only a few employees are exempted from this law.

Furthermore domestic workers experience rampant verbal, physical and sexual abuse and harassment within the industry. The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights includes the right to overtime pay, vacation and sick leave, 21 days’ notice of termination as well as the ability to take employers to court to fight for back wages.

From June 4 to 15, DWU has called a series of events and actions in New York City and Albany to shine a spotlight on the pending bill of rights. They plan to hold a 24-hour vigil at New York City Hall June 12 and have called for a New York Children and Families March for Domestic Workers Rights for June 14.

From June 15 to 17, a historic regional conference is planned for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Formed in 2007, NDWA is made up of 16 domestic workers groups nationally. It is estimated that there are over two million domestic workers in the U.S.

“We are optimistic that we are going to get the bill passed. We have churches, unions, students, employers aligned with us for this final push in our fight to demand respect, recognition and dignity,” says Gill-Campbell.

To participate and/or support the final weeks of the fight for the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, go to domesticworkers—united.org.