History of the Campaign

The household worker justice campaign began in 2004 with a strong local coalition that included MUA, the Women’s Collective of La Raza Centro Legal, and People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER).  Together the Bay Area Coalition collaborated on a participatory research project, designing and completing over 250 surveys to analyze the working conditions of household workers.  We found out that most household workers are supporting on average, two adults and two children, but more than 80 percent are not making enough to support a family of this size.  One in three workers reported that in the last two months they worked more hours than agreed. On top of this we are intimidated and made to think that we don’t have rights.  In addition to documenting the abuses of this sector and outlining the demands of household workers, the Bay Area Coalition sponsored a six-part study session amongst workers examining sexism and the division of labor, the history of domestic work in the United States, and household workers’ movements in other countries. 

In October 2005, Bay Area organizations came together with Southern California allies CHIRLA (Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angels) and the Pilipino Workers’ Center in Los Angeles to form the California Household Workers’ Coalition.  Household workers from all five organizations co-wrote a bill, AB2536, that extended the right to overtime compensation to household workers and fined abusive employers who fail to pay their employees. While recognizing that household workers need many other changes as well, like occupational safety and health, health care access, and protection from discrimination, household workers saw this proposal as the first step to put an end to the abuses in the industry and begin to value household work.

• History of the Campaign
• Campaign Victories
• Resources for Household Workers
• Key Coalitions
• MUA’s Theory of Change (PDF)