Collective Bargaining for Domestic Workers?

by: Paul Heckler

Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 12:21:29 PM EST

On October 28th over sixty people gathered to hear Domestic Workers United present research regarding the need for and feasibility of collective bargaining for the domestic worker industry. In addition to a large contingent of DWU members, attendees came from JFSJ, the National Domestic Worker Alliance, the Urban Justice Center, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. The briefing also marked the major victory of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, signed by Governor Paterson in September.

While the Bill of Rights is a historic first step, it does not include several important benefits, including sick and vacation days and notice of termination. Instead the legislature commissioned the Department of Labor to study the feasibility of collective bargaining to achieve these benefits. DWU conducted parallel research. Partnering with the NDWA and the UJC, DWU surveyed domestic workers, and employers of domestic workers. The research confirmed that domestic workers are particularly vulnerable because they work in isolation for non-traditional employers. They are often at the whim of employers, and without the job security to advocate on their own behalf. Access to collective bargaining would increase stability in the domestic worker industry, facilitate enforcement of existing rights, and create clear standards for employers to follow. The research also identified models of collective bargaining that address the challenges of domestic workers, including: Neighborhood Based Community Standards, Model Contracts, and Multi-Employer Bargaining.
 
However, domestic workers are currently excluded from the State Labor Relations Act, the law which permits groups of workers to pursue collective bargaining. This exclusion, a segregation era holdover, prohibits domestic workers from pursuing collective bargaining. To include domestic workers, the legislature would have to amend one paragraph of the SLRA.

DWU has a four part strategy for the future:
Working towards the inclusion of domestic workers in the SLRA to enable collective bargaining
Pursuit of legislative and regulatory reform as needed
Community education and enforcement of existing rights through community partnerships
Continuing to organize domestic workers

For more information, check out domesticworkersunited.org! We’re so excited to see what happens next with this great organization!

Historic Bill becomes Law

by: Rachel Berger

Thu Sep 02, 2010 at 14:33:20 PM EDT

Monday afternoon, in a small and very crowded room at the Dwyer Cultural Center in Morningside Heights, Governor Paterson signed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into law. This is the first law in the nation to provide workplace protections to domestic workers including: the right to overtime pay, three paid days of rest, the right to disability benefits as applicable to other workers, and the removal of a domestic worker exemption from the Human Rights law. The Governor remarked:

Today we correct an historic injustice by granting those who care for the elderly, raise our children and clean our homes the same essential rights to which all workers should be entitled… I am grateful to the sponsors for their extraordinary efforts to enact this landmark bill, and most of all to those domestic workers who dreamed, planned, organized and then fought for many years, until they were able to see an injustice undone.”

As he signed the bill, Governor Paterson asked aloud “What makes a law?  Is it the signature on the bill? Or is it the years of hard work from everyone in this room?“  As I looked around the room I was struck by the many individuals and groups that came together for so long to pass this law. Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, whose employer network Employers for Justice was instrumental in moving the campaign forward, was there. There were representatives from the NY State Legislature, including State Senator Diane Savino. There were representatives from local grassroots organizations, like CAAAV: Uniting Asian Communities, and national alliances, like the InterAlliance Dialogue. Radical feminists and union members alike showed up in support and celebration. It was all of those people, working together, that made the law.

More than 200,000 elder care workers, nannies, and housekeepers in New York are affected by this new law and they know that this victory is not the end. Here in New York workers and employers will need to be educated and these rights will have to be enforced. Nationally, there are 49 other states where domestic workers are still excluded. But this victory opens the door for those whose work is not respected equally to step into the fight and to win.

Victory for Domestic Workers!

by: Rachel Berger

Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 16:24:59 PM EDT

The moment is finally here. Governor Paterson will indeed be signing the Bill of Rights into law this coming Tuesday at 11am!!

After 400 years in the shadows of slavery.....
75 years of invisibility and exclusion under US labor law.....
6 years of a hard-fought struggle in the New York State legislature.....
Domestic workers are finally gaining rights, respect, and recognition.

Join us for the historic ceremony at the new Harriet Tubman Memorial Plaza, a traffic triangle, at the intersection of Frederick Douglass Boulevard (formerly Eighth Avenue) at St. Nicholas Avenue and 122nd Street.

See you all there!!!!

Victory for Domestic Workers United!

by: Rachel Berger

Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 16:44:02 PM EDT