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By jwjnational, on May 20th, 2011
AFL-CIO President Trumka and Domestic Workers United sing partnership agreement.
On May 10-12 in New York, NY, the Excluded Workers Congress convened its first International Conference to strategize the way forward for workers in sectors unprotected by current US labor laws. With allies from throughout the world, including worker organizations from India and South Africa, the discussion focused on identifying pressure points in global capital where excluded workers could continue to build power. Annanya Bhattacharjee of the Asia Floor Wage campaign lifted up strategies that crossed national borders, lifting the floor for everyone. Pat Horn, of the South African organization StreetNet International, drew similarities between excluded workers in the US and the movement to promote the rights of street vendors in South Africa. And Ashim Roy of the New Trade Union Initiative in India, lifted up the need from stronger coordination across borders, and noted that many of the Indian guestworkers now organized within the National Guestworkers Alliance were members of NTUI back home in India.
Jobs with
Continue reading Excluded Workers Congress Convenes International Conference
 On April 13th, over 200 domestic workers and their supporters from throughout California converged in Sacramento to call for adoption of the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Following a rally outside the State Capitol, domestic workers and their supporters packed the hearing room, lobby and staircase for the Assembly Labor committee hearing where the bill was passed 5-1.
Based on New York’s landmark law, the California legislation would create guidelines for employers of housekeepers, nannies and other workers in an industry that is unregulated and without clearly defined work benefits. Authored by Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and V.Manuel Perez (D-Coachella), the bill now moves on to be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“This victory signifies that we’re moving step by step on the path to victory to win rights that have never been recognized in this dignified work.” said Maria Reyes of Mujeres Unidas y Activas, a Bay Area Latina workers organization that is spearheading the campaign along with other domestic worker-led groups who make up the
Continue reading Workers Push for California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
By Erica Smiley, on December 10th, 2010
Report Introduced on International Human Rights Day
 At a time when Republicans in several states are threatening to eliminate the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain, representatives from 9 different sectors release “Unity for Dignity: Expanding the Right to Organize to Win Human Rights at Work,” a report highlighting ongoing efforts to dramatically expand workers’ human right to organize and collectively bargain. The report is being launched around the country, including in San Francisco, New York and Birmingham, Alabama symbolically on December 10th, International Human Rights Day, in order to re-frame the struggle to expand the right-to-organize as a human right.
The Excluded Workers Congress and the report highlight workers who have historically been excluded from labor protections, the right to organize, and underrepresented in the labor movement – domestic workers, farmworkers, taxi drivers, restaurant workers, day laborers, guestworkers, workers from Southern “right to work” states, workfare workers and formerly incarcerated workers.
Jobs with Justice has played an active role both nationally and within coalitions from Florida, DC and Tennessee—helping to connect the creation of the Excluded Workers Congress to the necessity of building and strengthening the labor
Continue reading Excluded Workers Unite to Expand the Human Right to Organize
By Allison Fletcher Acosta, on August 31st, 2010
 This morning, New York Governor Patterson signed into law the first-ever U.S. law that upholds domestic workers’ rights. 200,000 nannies, housekeepers, and elder caregivers in New York will be covered under a law that provides guaranteed sick days, overtime pay, a day of rest, protection from discrimination, and notice before termination. This groundbreaking victory is a result of a six-year campaign led by Domestic Workers United and supported by a broad coalition of labor and community organizations, including JwJ coalitions in NY State.
“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,” Governor Paterson said. “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.”
The victory in
Continue reading First-Ever Law Protecting Domestic Workers’ Rights Signed in New York
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