After years of arduous organizing, the domestic workers’ rights movement’s time has finally come.
Since its inception in 2007, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) has been fighting to advance the rights of domestic workers, including house cleaners, nannies and care workers. Once relegated to the shadows and margins of society, the coronavirus pandemic has placed a spotlight on domestic workers, and thanks to NDWA’s work, many people are now paying attention to the precarious situation many domestic workers find themselves in.
There are approximately 2 million domestic workers in the U.S., the majority of whom are women of color and immigrants. According to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), domestic workers make less money than their peers and are three times more likely to be living in poverty. Only one in five receive health insurance coverage through their employers.
When you throw in a global pandemic, things take an even uglier turn.
In October, NDWA published a report that showed the impact of the pandemic on domestic workers. According to their findings, by the end of March, more than 90% of domestic workers had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Many domestic workers are the primary breadwinners of their families, and without their jobs, could no longer pay their rents or mortgages.
“Because of domestic workers’ unique workplaces—inside other people’s homes—the struggles domestic workers face are largely out of the public spotlight,” explained NDWA.
Ai-jen Poo is the co-founder and executive director of NDWA and a noted labor organizer. Last year, she spoke at the Ford Foundation’s Future of Philanthropy forum. In her speech, she said that domestic workers “do the work in our homes that makes everything else possible in the world. It powers everything, and yet it is some of the most invisible and undervalued work in our entire economy.”
As such, one of NDWA’s goals is to shine a spotlight on the struggles domestic workers face and change the public perception of their work. That’s exactly what the pandemic is doing.
The EPI report notes that the pandemic has “highlighted the importance of keeping our homes clean, the skills and patience required to provide child care, and the urgency of caring for elderly, sick and disabled Americans.”
One of the most commonly cited arguments for easing coronavirus restrictions is that parents cannot both work and care for their children at the same time, thus supporting Poo’s argument that domestic work makes all other work possible.
How did we get here?
Unlike many other groups of workers, domestic workers are denied basic labor rights, according to NDWA. Domestic workers were deliberately left out of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act. Labor standards like a minimum wage, overtime pay, healthcare, paid sick days and protections against sexual harassment are rarely extended to domestic workers.
The EPI report notes that domestic workers’ exclusion from many federal and labor protection laws harkens back to the New Deal, which originally excluded about half the workers in the economy from Social Security.
An explosion of growth and support
NDWA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the rights of domestic workers. NDWA seeks “dignity and fairness” for domestic workers, particularly through promoting their inclusion in labor protections.
To make this happen, NDWA and its 501(c)(4) arm, Care in Action, work with a broad range of groups and individuals to change how society values care, women, families and communities; to recruit women of color leaders and invest in grassroots organizing to realize their potential; and build state, regional and national campaigns for concrete change.
NDWA is primarily funded through contributions and grants. In 2020 alone, NDWA has received more than $5 million in foundation grants. Some of its biggest donors include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation, both of which have donated more than $1 million each.
As part of The Giving Pledge, MacKenzie Scott donated part of her wealth to NDWA.
NDWA’s current budget is $18 million. Care in Action estimates its 2020 budget will reach $9 million.
Additionally, NDWA also has an innovation arm called NDWA Labs. Founded in 2015, it’s an LLC owned by Care in Action. Its financial supporters include the JPB Foundation, Google.org, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation.
NDWA Labs collaborates with the private sector to innovate tools and products to raise standards for domestic workers. For example, NDWA Labs has created Alia, a technology platform that allows domestic workers to gain access to benefits like paid time off and life insurance.
Since many domestic workers don’t work in a single residence full-time, most don’t receive any benefits through their employers. Many domestic workers, particularly house cleaners, will work in a different household every day, sometimes cleaning several homes every day.
Alia provides a solution to this problem. To create a cultural shift in perceptions of domestic workers, NDWA partnered with Participant Media and Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón on the film Roma to highlight the struggles domestic workers experience.
Building Electoral Power
NDWA seeks to build electoral power in several notable ways, first, through mobilizing voters and second, by waging legislative and administrative policy campaigns at the municipal, state and federal levels, according to NDWA. Additionally, it seeks to elevate domestic workers as “key leaders in building a powerful movement for racial, economic and gender justice.”
“It’s organizing everyone from undocumented immigrant caregivers to senior citizens who vote Republican to women who are struggling with how to take care of their kids and their aging parents,” explained Poo in a video published shortly after she won the 2014 MacArthur Fellowship.
Care in Action endorses candidates whose work aligns with that of NDWA’s. For example, it supports pro-immigrant candidates and workers to engage voters on immigration through canvassing experiments, digital ads, data analysis and social media engagement, among others.
“Elections are only one part of our work to build ongoing power for all nannies, house cleaners and care workers, but they’re a key part to ensuring our voices are heard,” states NDWA’s website, encouraging interested parties to join in the organization’s efforts to mobilize voters.
Perhaps most importantly, NDWA works with legislators to win policy changes. Through its advocacy, nine states and Seattle have adopted legislation that establishes a domestic workers bill of rights.
In a huge win, NDWA worked alongside Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) to introduce the first National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.
“Domestic workers are one of the fastest-growing workforces in our country,” said Harris in a press release. “They provide essential care and support to aging parents, people with disabilities, children and homes. However, our nation’s domestic workers have not been afforded the same rights and benefits as nearly every other worker, and it’s time we change that.”
“The courageous working-class women, women of color, and immigrant women who are demanding their rights today are unwilling to be excluded any longer,” added Jayapal. “When domestic workers win, everyone wins: This bill will protect, stabilize and expand this important workforce in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country.”
The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights extends common workplace rights and protections to domestic workers. These include paid overtime, safe and healthy working conditions, and freedom from workplace harassment; creates new protections to address the unique nature of domestic work, such as written contracts, affordable healthcare and retirement benefits and fair scheduling; and ensures that these rights aren’t just lip-service, but are enforced and implemented.
Additionally, the bill of rights offers protection against retaliation, a confidential hotline, and a worker and employer-led taskforce.
Many other legislators have co-sponsored the bill, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Harris introduced the bill to the Senate in mid-2019. It has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Solutions for the Future
Poo argues that domestic work is one of the fastest-growing job sectors in the country. Since domestic work can’t be outsourced or automated (though there are certainly innovators who are trying), domestic work represents the future of American jobs.
As such, finding solutions to the problems domestic workers currently face will be beneficial for future workers and generations.
“In the margins of our economy, domestic workers have been making a way out of no way,” Poo said.
She added, “Domestic workers have been organizing for decades. They have broken out of the isolation and invisibility of working hidden behind closed doors and neighborhoods around the country to come together… to create a pathway to good jobs for the 21st century for this workforce.”
Through its work, NDWA will continue to shine a spotlight on this and other invisible demographics.