Belabored Podcast #63: Domestic Workers on the Move, with Allison Julien

Belabored spoke with Allison Julien, a New York-based domestic worker and veteran campaigner with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, on the state of the movement and new challenges in organizing this unique and often overlooked workforce.

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Domestic workers have struggled for generations to get people to see their work as a real job, much less persuade the government to provide formal labor protections for this sector, comprised largely of low-income women, immigrants and people of color. But today, the grievances that were once confined to chatter among nannies on the park bench, are reaching the highest legislative chambers across the country.

New York City has been at the forefront the emerging domestic workers’ movement, starting with the passage of the landmark Domestic Workers Bill of Rights law in 2010, which provided major new wage and hour protections for tens of thousands of workers statewide. The grassroots organizing model of New York’s Domestic Workers United inspired a wave of similar initiatives on the state, national and even international level.

This week, as advocates and labor scholars gathered for a conference on domestic worker organizing at Barnard College, Belabored spoke with Allison Julien, a New York-based domestic worker and veteran campaigner with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, on the state of the movement and new challenges in organizing this unique and often overlooked workforce.

News

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Nurses group slams Dallas hospital for sloppy Ebola care (USA Today)

Michelle: If Airport Ebola Screening Makes You Feel Safer, You Should Know What Workers Are Saying (The Nation)

Michelle: Why Aren’t the Health Workers Fighting West Africa’s Ebola Epidemic Being Given Basic Protective Gear? (The Nation)

Sarah: America’s Ebola blind spot: Why this country isn’t equipped to save patients (Salon)

Sarah: Philadelphia’s school reform debacle: Despised governor crosses the line (Salon)

Sarah: “Poster child for tenure”: Why teacher Agustin Morales really lost his job (Salon)

Michelle: Supreme Court Case Shows How Amazon Legally Cheats Workers (The Nation)

Sarah: Bank of America’s horrid “customer service” scandal (Salon)

Conversation with Allison Julien:

National Domestic Workers Alliance