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CA Domestic Workers Coalition pushes for a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

CALIFORNIA— California domestic workers coalition and the National Domestic Workers Alliance will join community members, allies and the general public at the screening of The Help in cities across California to raise awareness of the need to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

Based on a New York Times bestseller by Kathryn Stockett, The Help is the story of a group of African-American domestic workers struggling for dignity and respect in Civil Rights-era Mississippi.

The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights—which passed the California State Assembly on June 2—would secure dignity and respect for California domestic workers, as well as improving the quality of care for children, families and seniors, by expanding basic labor protections and setting industry-wide standards.

“We are the women who clean people’s homes, care for the children and elderly, and we are legally not entitled to basic legal rights,” explains Maria Lugo, a member of the statewide coalition and of the San Francisco group Women’s Collective. “This is why we are pushing the California legislature to pass AB 889, the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.”

The State Senate will be debating the bill during the week of August 15.

The racial politics of the pre-Civil Rights era led to the exclusion of domestic workers—overwhelmingly African American women—from the basic labor protections of the National Labor Relations Act.

Today’s domestic workers—frequently immigrant women of color—are fighting for a bill that would provide the right to a safe and healthy workplace, worker’s compensation, paid sick days, paid vacations, overtime pay, and the right to choose their own food.

The campaign in support of the bill is led by the California Domestic Worker Coalition and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which won the passage of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York State in August 2010.

WHERE: SAN FRANCISCO. 845 Market St. (near 4th St.)
Outside mall where Century San Francisco Centre 9 movie theatre is located.
WHEN: Wednesday August 10th, 2011
TIME: 11:00a.m.
CONTACT: Renee Saucedo 415.425.6575   Claudia Reyes 415.621.8140

WHERE: SAN JOSE.  The Independent Theater, 201 South Second Street.
WHEN: Wednesday August 10th, 2011
TIME: 6:00p.m.
CONTACT: Annie Sayo, 408.637.0547

WHERE: OAKLAND. Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Avenue.
WHEN: Wednesday August 10th, 2011
TIME: 7:00p.m.
CONTACT: Steph St. Clair,  510.228.6214

WHERE: BERKELEY. The California Theater, 2230 Shattuck Avenue.
WHEN: Wednesday August 10th, 2011
TIME: 7:00p.m.
CONTACT: Steph St. Clair,  510.228.6214

WHERE: LOS ANGELES: Avco Cinema, 10840 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, CA  90024
WHEN: Wednesday August 10th, 2011
TIME: 6:00pm
CONTACT: Altagracia Garcia, 323.568.6910