Domestic Workers Vow To Keep Fighting

Laura Glesby Photo

Domestic workers Thursday calling for rights and recognition.

Over 20 domestic workers and their families gathered in a church sanctuary to call for sick days, maternity leave, and healthcare — and to celebrate their day-to-day work, without which the world stands still.”

The local immigrant labor advocacy organization Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) convened the gatheringThursday in honor of International Domestic Workers Day. They held the event in the evening at the First & Summerfield United Methodist Church, where rows of posters featuring historic domestic workers, from Geneva Evans to Harriet Tubman, awaited everyone who walked through the sanctuary’s doors.

Throughout the evening, domestic workers — a group that includes house cleaners, child caregivers, and home health aides who work in individual families’ homes — shared stories of both pride and precarity arising from their work.

They honored the overlooked history of impactful caregivers and housekeepers. And they called for a future of stability and recognition for all domestic workers.

Carmen Garcia spoke of immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico nearly 30 years ago.

I’m proud to be a domestic worker because my work makes it possible for my employers to do their work,” she said.

Our work is as important as the work of a lawyer, doctor, or politician,” she added, echoing the event’s refrain that the world wouldn’t turn without domestic workers.

Garcia is fighting for working conditions and compensation that reflect that importance. I don’t have any retirement or Social Security, no health insurance or paid time off,” she said.

We work very hard and we are often paid the very minimum,” said Abigahi Tepale, a domestic worker and single parent. It is not enough to pay the rent or pay the bills,” she said.

The speakers called for paid sick days, paid time off, health insurance, and paid family leave — and they called for existing workplace health and safety laws to include domestic workers. These goals could be accomplished in the form of a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act, a version of which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last year. 

Nayeli Garcia: "We work behind closed doors."

While domestic workers have fewer rights than most other workers in the country, the legal protections they do possess often go unlearned and unenforced.

Many domestic workers are immigrants — including Nayeli Garcia, who moved to New Haven from Mexico 11 years ago when she was 13. Most domestic workers are Black, Latina, and African-American women,” Garcia said. We work behind closed doors, which makes us vulnerable to exploitation.“

Garcia, who co-organized the event, dreams of becoming a social worker. She’s working toward that goal as a part-time student at Gateway Community College. In order to pay for tuition, she spends 20 to 25 hours per week cleaning houses. It’s difficult,” she said, but it’s not impossible.“

One protection that Garcia and other ULA organizers hope to bring to light is a state law passed in 2021 requiring employers to provide domestic workers with written contracts, outlining pay and time off.

In addition to advocating for these goals on Thursday evening, ULA aimed to celebrate the powerful history and present-day legacy of domestic work, which often goes invisible or under-recognized. 

The organization honored 20 domestic workers within its community with certificates, naming their work as deserving of more recognition. 

Robyn Porter recalls her grandmother's work.

State Rep. Robyn Porter recalled going to work with her grandmother, a Black woman who took care of children in a white household. We were fascinated by the toys, the dollhouses,” Porter said. There were painful moments, too. There were times when my grandmother had to be a grandmother to other children” — and when she had to miss holidays in order to work.

Estefania Cuzco sings in kichwa, asking for rain.

To every woman in this room, every immigrant, I know how hard it is in this country. You have to start with whatever job you can get,” said Estefania Cuzco, a member of the Indigenous Cañari community who performed a kichwa song calling for rain. 

In spite of all your pain … you have gotten up. You have kept going,” said Cuzco. Thank you for keeping on fighting.”

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