Who Are Domestic Workers United?
From Social Justice Wiki
DIGNITY FOR WORKERS!
Who Are Domestic Workers United?
Domestic Workers United is an industry wide organization that includes more than 600,000 women doing domestic work in the greater New York Metropolitan area. DWU was started by Andolan, an organization that mobilizes low-income, South Asian workers to fight unjust employers, and CAAAV (the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence), an organization that fights institutional violence affecting immigrant, poor and working-class communities, such as worker exploitation. DWU grew out of a need to protect and promote the rights of domestic workers. ‘Domestic workers’ refers to nannies, housekeepers, companions, and employees who care for someone else’s family or home.
A 2002 Village Voice article by Chisun Lee positions the movement within the larger social climate and salutes the dedication of the activists in the face of staggering obstacles, both personal and structural:
They were supposed to be too tired from working 50, 60, or 80 hours a week. Too discouraged by earnings of a few hundred dollars a week or sometimes a month. Too frightened, because many of them are not supposed to be in this country, and none can afford to lose a job. The Nanny Diaries, a comic new novel by two NYU graduates who once worked on Park Avenue, has caused a sensation with its titillating trade secrets, but these ordinary workers are still struggling to expose the grimmer truths.
Click here to see the full text of Lee's article
Contact Information:
Domestic Workers United
c/o CAAAV 2473 Valentine Ave
Bronx, NY 10458
(718)220-7391 ext. 11