Announcing New National Domestic Worker Alliance

On Labor Day, over fifty Latina household workers and their families who are members of MUA, POWER and the Women’s Collective of the Day Labor Program of La Raza Centro Legal gathered in the San Francisco Mission District to celebrate their work and launch the new National Domestic Workers’ Alliance. The goals of this newly formed alliance are to work together to give public attention to the plight of household workers and at the same time improve the workplace conditions. Member organizations of this alliance represent grassroots organizations that work towards advancing the rights of household workers. Similar actions were held by the other ten member organizations located in Maryland, Los Angeles, and New York. The event was covered by Univision, Telemundo, KPFA, the Bay Guardian, and Sing Tao newspaper.

Demanding Justice and Human Rights for Immigrant Communities

On August 30 , dozens of MUA Oakland members gathered in Fruitvale Plaza in Oakland to participate in a vigil to mark theNational Day of Action to Stop Anti Immigrant Repression & Migrant Deaths at the U.S.-Mexico Border. Joining with allies from the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights , Lucha Unida del Jornalero, and the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, MUA members demanded:

*A Congressional investigation into the border and immigration enforcement policies that are causing migrant deaths at the border and ICE/Migra abuses
* Socially just legalization
* Justice for Elvira Arellano and her son Saul & for all immigrant families who have lost loved ones to detention and deportation
* An end to all raids and a moratorium on all immigrant detentions and deportations
* Restoring and expanding the due process rights of all immigrants .... . . . *Protecting and expanding the labor, human and civil rights of all immigrants and
refugees
* An end to the deaths of migrants at the border
* Demilitarizing border and immigration control: Make the rights and health of our
communities a top priority!
The vigil made front page news in the Oakland Tribune on Friday, August 31.

Research Finds Household Workers Earn Poverty Wages, Lack Access to Basic Health Care

Household workers work in private homes performing in-home child, patient, and elder care, housework, and cooking. The release of Behind Closed Doors, a report analysing the household work industry in California, shows workers are primarily female immigrants. While supporting their employers' homes and families, findings show household workers work in substandard and often exploitative conditions, earn poverty wages too low to support their own families, and lack access to basic health care. A participatory research project conducted by members of Mujeres Unidas y Activas and Day Labor Program Women's Collective of La Raza Centro Legal, and the DataCenter.

News coverage of MUA's Household Workers' Campaign: