BREAKING NEWS: Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Passed in NY Senate

In the News:
Victoria laboral para trabajadores domésticos – Catalina Jaramillo, El Diario NY
For Nannies, Hope for Workplace Protection – Russ Buettner, The New York Times
NY Lawmakers Approve Domestic Worker Rights – Michael Virtanen, The Associated Press

Congratulations to Domestic Workers United, for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the NY State Legislature! On June 1st, the NY State Legislature passed a bill that provides collective bargaining rights and labor protection for domestic workers. If Gov. Patterson signs the bill into law, it will be the first of its kind in the country.

Hardly even captured in the US Census, domestic workers struggle to substantiate their very existence. Domestic Workers United (DWU) of New York City partnered with DataCenter in 2003 to illuminate the working and living conditions of an industry that takes place behind closed doors. The partnership produced the unprecedented report, “Home Is Where the Work Is” (2006, PDF), which detailed exploitative conditions and demographics. Co-authored by DWU and DataCenter, the report continues to be one of the most authoritative sources of data on this largely invisible and vulnerable workforce, and has effectively been backed by the voices of the domestic workers in making data-driven arguments for their policy solutions. Equally important, domestic workers continue to utilize tools of research effectively in strengthening their voices in shifting policy and making change.

Today, domestic workers, along with the National Domestic Worker Alliance, are in the forefront of launching this powerful and winning model of DataCenter’s research capacity-building on a national scale.