El Diario Editorial: Albany drags feet on domestic worker bill

Back to listing

17 Jun 2008

When Albany wants to get some- thing done, it can work with great speed. We saw how it quickly rescued 1,500 OTB jobs this week.

But a far larger pool of workers remains unprotected because Albany keeps delaying action on a bill that would provide basic labor standards for them.

Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Keith Wright would create a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. These workers, estimated at 200,000 in New York, are often exploited and vulnerable to abuse. They are trusted to care for children and the elderly, but denied the guarantee of paid sick days, vacation days, or the right to file a complaint without risking retribution.

The vast majority of domestic workers are immigrant women, many from Latin America. Here, they find themselves isolated, underpaid and mistreated by employers taking advantage of the fact that their work is not protected under the law. It’s the kind of abuse employers would not tolerate for themselves.

Despite years of impressive advocacy by Domestic Workers United, Albany is still not getting that these workers have no collective bargaining power. The individual nature of domestic work— largely one worker per employer at separate sites—does not facilitate the unionization that takes place in other sectors.

In the Assembly, a proposal would entitle domestic and farm workers to overtime pay and one day of rest. But that's a piecemeal approach to the full protections domestic workers need. And to get a sense of how overdue these protections are, think of how long domestic work has existed in this country.

Our state legislators must stop shortchanging these vulnerable workers. With a bill floating in Albany for years, it's also time for domestic workers to shine a light on who, by design or complacency, is stalling on workers’ protections.

Back to listing