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.
On Tuesday morning September 31, 2010, domestic workers in New York State made history. Under the leadership of Domestic Workers United, the mainly People of Color and women organization waged a determined campaign to get this historic piece of legislation passed. They were certainly aware that their exclusion from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act was due to the fact that their sector of the workforce was, as it is now, almost entirely Black and Brown people in 1935 when the legislation was passed. In this sense, they have made things right for the hundreds of thousands of women and some men who have suffered at the hands of callous employers and racist lawmakers who cared nothing about their well being.
Among other provisions, this bill provides for:
- The right to overtime pay at time and a half after 40 hours of work in a week, or 44 hours for in-home workers;
- A day of rest every seven days, or overtime pay if it is waived;
- Three paid days of rest annually after one year of work;
- The removal of the domestic workers exemption from the Human Rights Law, and the creation of a special cause of action for domestic workers who suffer sexual or racial harassment;
- The extension of statutory disability benefits to domestic workers, to the same degree as other workers; and
- A study by the Commissioner of Labor on the practicality of extending collective bargaining rights to domestic workers.
Domestic workers are at the forefront of the Excluded Workers movement which emerged out of the Excluded Workers Congress held at the US Social Forum in Detroit in June of this year. This grouping includes agricultural workers, taxi drivers, immigrant workers, day laborers, ex-offenders and Southern workers. The broad sector is also mainly people of color located in increasingly important areas of the economic which place them in a strategic position and makes them a key factor in the fledgling trade union movement.
Governor Paterson signed the bill as people cried and cheered as they viewed the ceremony.
Work of the Excluded Workers Congress will continue in the Southern Region when workers and activists gather for the Southern Human Rights Organizing Committee (SHROC VIII) in Birmingham, Alabama starting on December 10.
