Tag Archive for "domestic workers"

Posts Tagged domestic workers

Obama administration extends labor protections to home care workers

Some good, if long overdue, news for the nation’s home care workers. Via The New York Times:

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was extending minimum wage and overtime protections to the nation’s nearly two million home care workers.

Advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for this change, asserting that home care workers, who care for elderly and disabled Americans, were wrongly classified into the same “companionship services” category as baby sitters — a group that is exempt from minimum wage and overtime coverage. Under the new rule, home care aides, unlike baby sitters, would be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.

Like so ...

Some good, if long overdue, news for the nation’s home care workers. Via The New York Times:

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was extending minimum wage and overtime protections to the nation’s ...

By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 10 years ago

California passes the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

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Yesterday, the California Senate passed a bill that would guarantee domestic workers basic labor protections such as overtime pay and meal breaks. This could be a huge step for California domestic workers, allowing them to join the ranks of Hawaii and New York, where domestic workers bills are already in place. According to the National Domestic Workers Alliance:

If signed by the Governor, AB 241 would provide all domestic workers who care for California’s homes and families with some of the basic labor protections they have been denied for decades.

This move is particularly important in a state like California, which has the largest population in the country comprised largely of ...

Image via

Yesterday, the California Senate passed a bill that would guarantee domestic workers basic labor protections such as overtime pay and meal breaks. This could be a huge ...

By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 10 years ago

How you can support the domestic workers movement

Domestic work is gendered and waaay undervalued. This we know. We know this because it’s been established over and over again on feminist blogs and in academia. But more importantly we know this because so many of us have seen it happen before our very eyes. We’ve watched our mothers cook and clean each day after working at her full time job, while Dad watches TV. We’ve seen this happen to our sisters, our friends, maybe it’s even happened to you. So many women aren’t properly compensated for that “second shift” they take on, and this extends to women who do domestic work professionally.

The profile of the average domestic worker tends to be a low-income, migrant woman of ...

By Alexandra Brodsky • 10 years ago

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

California domestic workers demand a Bill of Rights.

Remember when prison abolition was a feminist priority?

In case you needed another reason to hate drones, Amanda Marcotte has you covered.

“What theory did you use to stay warm at night?”

A map of New York publications.

NC Senate passes bill erroneously listing abortion as a cause of preterm birth.

Inspired by Angelina Jolie’s announcement, s.e. smith writes about how inaccessible breast cancer treatment is for many.

Some Jolie “fans” are upset that their favorite actress potentially saved her own life… at the cost of their fantasies.

“A study recently published in the American Political Science Review declares that feminist activism ...

California domestic workers demand a Bill of Rights.

Remember when prison abolition was a feminist priority?

In case you needed another reason to hate drones, Amanda Marcotte has you covered.

“What theory ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

What happens when women are “illegal”?

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Juliana Britto Schwartz. By day, Juliana is a student at University of California, Santa Cruz. By night, she is a Latina feminist blogger at Julianabritto.com, where she writes about reproductive health justice, immigration, and feminist movements in Latin America.

Earlier this week, the Associated Press made the decision to drop the term “illegal immigrant” from its style guide. This is a huge step forward for immigrant rights, but the fact that such a small act is such a huge victory says a lot about how much further our country has to go to achieve even basic human rights for undocumented people. The AP may have dropped the I-Word, but plenty of major ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

Quick hit: Where are the domestic workers in immigration reform?

So you’ve heard that the Senate proposed a bipartisan plan to reform immigration laws on Monday which proposes pathways to citizenship — as well as an increase in border patrol. While the question of how same sex couples will be addressed under the law is still up in the air, Bryce Covert for The Nation points out that there’s another group that was excluded from the proposal’s fast tracked path to citizenship: domestic workers.

Covert writes that the language promising that farm workers who “have been performing very important and difficult work…while earning subsistence wages” and who play a role of “utmost importance in our nation” will earn a path to citizenship through a different process could easily ...

By Sesali B. • 11 years ago

New report on domestic workers exposes low pay, harsh conditions, and need for labor protections

Yesterday, the National Domestic Workers Alliance–led by the amazing Ai-jen Poo–released a groundbreaking report on the work conditions faced by domestic workers (nannies, maids, caregivers, etc.) nationwide. The survey of over 2,000 domestic workers revealed the effects of race and immigration status on workers’ pay. Some troubling stats:

94% of domestic workers are women. 23 percent of workers are paid below the state minimum wage.* Undocumented domestic workers are paid about 20% less than those who are U.S. citizens. 66% of all those surveyed reported working while sick, injured or in pain. 56% of U.S.-born domestic workers and 77% of undocumented domestic workers reported working under such conditions. Workers of color make up 54% of the domestic workforce. The median wage for white caregivers is $12/hour; that of black ...

By Katie Halper • 11 years ago

What We Missed

As Bangladeshis protest the deaths of over 120 people in a factory fire, a Fox host actually says the workers who were killed laboring under sweatshop conditions producing Wal Mart apparel were lucky to have the jobs.

The UN passes its first resolution condemning female genital mutilation.

In the latest from the War on Women, GOP lawmakers and anti-choice groups in Arkansas are working on passing bills limiting reproductive rights.

The ACLU is suing over the military policy to bar women from combat roles.

Four gay men and two of their mothers file a lawsuit today against a New Jersey conversion therapy group that claims to “treat” homosexuality and straighten people out.

Surprise! White male Republican Senators (and a white female Republican ...