http://domesticworkersunited.org/ Domestic Workers United (DWU) organizes to build power, establish fair labor standards, and raise the level of respect for domestic workers. DWU is led by a Steering Committee of domestic workers. en-us matt@helen-marie.com matt@helen-marie.com Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:10:54 -0400 PHP Framework http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/25 BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY AND LAURA RIVERA | zachary.dowdy@news July 4, 2008 A live-in nanny in Syosset died yesterday after she jumped into a backyard swimming pool to rescue a 3-year-old boy in her care who was struggling to stay afloat, Nassau police said. Authorities did not release the name of the woman, whom they described as in her 60s. She was pronounced dead at Syosset Hospital. The medical examiner will do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. She died as she tried to help the boy, who was wearing a life vest although it may have slipped off him before he began floundering in the pool at 12 Flo Dr., said Nassau police spokesman Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone. "It's possible that the 3-year-old child removed his jacket and got into the pool," Repalone said. "And the nanny, in an attempt to save that child, jumped into the pool." Investigators said the pool had a deep end but did not specify its depth. Authorities said they were unsure whether the woman could swim... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/25 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/23 A wealthy New York woman has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for keeping two Indonesian women as slaves. Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 46, and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, kept them as slaves and abused them physically and psychologically. The couple had been found guilty on 12 charges in December, including involuntary servitude, harbouring aliens and forced labour. Mr Sabhnani is to be sentenced later on Friday and may get a shorter term. In addition to prison, his Indian-born wife was fined ,000 (£12,600). "I just want to say that I love my children very much," she told the federal court in Central Islip, on New York state's Long Island, as two of her grown children looked on. "I was brought to this earth to help people who are in need." Her husband wept as his wife's sentence was announced. The wealthy couple, who run a perfume business and have four children, had brought the women to their large house to work as housekeepers, and forced them... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/23 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/24 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... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/24 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/22 By Lizzy Ratner June 13, 2008 Georgia Danan was both laughing and crying. It was Friday, June 6, and she was sitting in a Barnard College classroom, telling the tale of how she came to be a 76-year-old Filipina domestic worker fighting to win ,000 in back wages from a recalcitrant employer. Speaking in hurried, distraught sentences, she unfurled the story of how she immigrated to Los Angeles in 2005, sought a job as a domestic worker through the Mt. Sinai Home Care agency, and then, like so many before her, found herself being both poorly treated--she said she was regularly yelled at and accused of stealing--and cheated out of a minimum wage. For one fifteen-day period, she said, the agency didn't pay her at all. "I am old. If I get sick, if I have no money, what will happen to me for my medicine and doctors?" said Danan, a former third-grade schoolteacher, as she wiped two streaks of tears from beneath her bifocals. "So I am appealing for the sake of all caregivers that are... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/22 Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/21 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/21 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/17 From The New York Times, The City/In the Region Section By Cara Buckley and Annie Correal Photo By Yana Paskova The women’s stories seemed to come from a backward country, or from a shameful time in the United States that many would sooner forget. One woman, too scared to give her name, told of being struck by her employer in Bethesda, Md., as she scrubbed her hands raw polishing the floor. Another woman, Violet Anthony, who is 29 and from Mumbai, said her face became marbled with bruises after her employer in Queens slammed her into a wall and slapped her. Araceli Herrera said some of her employers inspected her bags before she left their homes and refused to drive her to or from the bus stop, a half-hour’s walk away. One employer, she said, fired her after she had a gallbladder operation and needed a month’s rest. “With each job, I was exploited more. The thing is, the more you suffer, the harder it is to defend yourself,” said Ms. Herrera, 48, who trained to be an... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/17 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/16 New York Times, Editorial Section June 8, 2008 Listening to domestic workers talk about their jobs can give a rude jolt to assumptions about social progress and the civility of the rich and upper middle class. Herminia Serrat describes the “crude reality” of life for many nannies, housekeepers and caregivers for the elderly as a stoic struggle marked by long hours, meager or stolen wages, social isolation and a full range of unchecked employer abuses, from petty verbal harassment to physical and sexual assault. Araceli Herrera holds up a thumb scarred by caustic cleaning chemicals that eat through gloves and cause wounds that do not heal. Joycelyn Gill-Campbell tells of working while sick, unable to get time off, even with a doctor’s note. She relates the indignity of being dressed in white uniform and shoes, “like Florence Nightingale,” to push a lame dog in a baby carriage down the sidewalks of Manhattan. New York City, where entire industries and neighborhoods would... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/16 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/18 Associated Press, June 4, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO - She says she crossed the border from Mexico and found work as a live-in housekeeper for a family that never let her out of their sight. At first, her employers paid her 0 a month for cooking, cleaning and care-taking from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Then they stopped paying the woman, who did not want her name used because she is in the country illegally. Still, she stayed. She had nowhere else to go. She said her bosses told her that if she left, she could be arrested and thrown back to Mexico, where her family had no means of support. Story continues below ↓advertisement "What did I know?" she said at a domestic workers' support group at La Raza Centro Legal, an immigrants' rights center in San Francisco. The organization also has a labor center that the woman used to find new employment. Finding their voices Domestic workers have no right to overtime, sick time, vacation, health care and workers' compensation... http://domesticworkersunited.org//shownews/18 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400