Outside of CAAAV: Domestic Workers United

Demonstration in Support of Domestic Workers in NYC. CAAAV Digital Archive

Through the collaboration of established groups like the WWP and Andolan, the Domestic Workers United (DWU) was founded in 2000 to support the growing diversity within the domestic worker profession (especially workers from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean).

The DWU currently describes itself as a "Black-immigrant-led racial justice organization" whose mission is to empower domestic workers in the industry by organizing and establishing fair labor standards. [1]

Domestic Workers United press conference at City Hall in New York City, March 24, 2002, CAAAV Digital Archive

Empowerment takes many forms for this group, including through educational programs, cultural activities, and grassroots campaigns.

In 2001, Domestic Workers United, with other immigrant women's organizations, including CAAAV, Andolan, and Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, organized a Labor/Immigration fair and established a Nanny's Training Course that certified over 100 workers in less than a year. [2]

The organization has also used storytelling to empower its members through the PEN Workers Writers’ Workshop, which supports writers from progressive labor organizations. In 2022, DWU received a two-year Artist Employment Grant from Creatives Rebuild New York to compose, act, and produce our own work stories as a theater by domestic workers for domestic workers. [3]

Demonstration against home care companies with "SLAVERY EXITS IN NEW YORK! CHECK THE MOTHER of PERPETUAL HOME CARE!" sign, November 2020, CAAAV Digital Archive

One of the most extended and historic campaigns by the DWU, with the help of the NY Domestic Workers Justice Coalition, was for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. From 2003 to August 31, 2010 (when New York State signed the bill into law), the organization built its base and connections to ensure that the bill, which would be the nation’s first comprehensive legislation extending fundamental rights and protections to domestic workers, was passed. [4] [5]

Many of their recent campaigns have been in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased exploitive tactics by employers against domestic workers and job loss. DWU assisted members in applying for New York State’s Excluded Workers Fund and, with the Ain’t I A Woman Campaign, produced a podcast to document the "inhumane, enslavement-like conditions of live-in domestic workers working back-to-back 24-hr shifts in New York during the pandemic." [6]