Leaders from the California Domestic Workers Coalition are celebrating the introduction of AB 2314, legislation that “would create and maintain a Domestic Work Enforcement Program within the state's Department of Labor Standards Enforcement in order to implement labor standards for the domestic work industry.” With 54 percent of the state’s 200,000 domestic workers being women of color and 46 percent immigrants, the legislation will offer greater protections from abuse and exploitation:
The program will allow for more resources, education and training for California's domestic workers and domestic employers to promote fair wages and dignified labor standards in the industry.
At the [San Francisco] event, the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, reiterated the importance of this bill for domestic workers in light of the tense political climate.
"We protect everyone whether you're documented or undocumented, whether you're an immigrant," Ting said. "Whether you're a citizen, you are a Californian and you have rights and that's what AB 2314 is all about.”
Dozens of immigrant women at rallies in San Francisco and Los Angeles held a day after International Women’s Day shared “stories of being underpaid and forced to work overtime without additional compensation.” According to a 2007 Household Worker Rights Coalition Survey of domestic workers in California, 90 percent who worked overtime did not always receive the overtime pay they were entitled to.
Veronica Nieto, organizer with the Mission District-based group Mujeres Activas y Unidas, said when she first arrived to the U.S. from Mexico she worked as house cleaner seven days a week, earning only $10 per house and collecting $450 weekly. After organizing with other domestic workers, she learned about salary theft and minimum wage.
“Some employers are terrific, generous and understanding,” the survey’s researchers wrote. But “others, unfortunately, are demanding, exploitative and abusive,” and take advantage of vulnerable employees. Domestic workers deserve not just full protections, but dignity. "It's hard to find employers that respect this work," Nieto said. "For many employers, unfortunately, they feel that domestic work, because we're immigrants, it's what we deserve. So that's why were here, because we want to continue educating our employers."