Invisible to powerful: Domestic workers make history

Last month, Seattle City Council voted unanimously to pass a groundbreaking municipal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights which ensures nannies & housecleaners working in Seattle get the basic rights and benefits every worker needs, and creates a new way to set higher industry standards & make further advances.

Until now, few nannies and house cleaners have had access to basic rights and benefits. Some have even been excluded from the minimum wage. And there’s been no good way for workers to come together to set industry-wide standards and improve conditions.

The new Domestic Workers Bill of Rights brings domestic workers from invisible to powerful by:

• Covering all part-time, full-time, independent contractors, and live-in domestic workers in the city — regardless of whether they are technically employed by an agency or a family, and regardless of whether they are classified as employees.

• Ensuring all domestic workers are covered by the minimum wage and receive rest breaks.

• Establishing a Domestic Workers Standards Board which includes workers, employers, and community representatives and has the power to establish industry-wide standards on wages, benefits, training, and other issues.

The Domestic Workers Standards Board is a breakthrough step for workers' rights in Seattle and across the country — a new model of worker power being led by women and people of color who have been too long excluded from other basic legal protections.

Here's how it happened.

We organized.

Nannies, housecleaners, and other domestic workers with Working Washington, Casa Latina, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance have been organizing for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights for more than a year.

We shared our stories.

We publicly kicked off our campaign in December with a major event where elected officials heard from nannies and housecleaners and signed on in support of a citywide Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

We showed our numbers.

In March, we assembled a large-scale display of diapers and gloves at Seattle City Hall, representing each of the housecleaners and nannies in the Seattle area — one diaper for each nanny (about 8,000), one glove-finger for each house cleaner (about 7,000). We also released a report analyzing the conditions facing domestic workers in the city.

We broke down doors.

In June, Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda introduced a breakthrough Domestic Workers Bill of Rights — so we broke through some doors of our own at City Hall!

And we made history.

Passing the Bill of Rights means domestic workers in Seattle have ended their exclusion from basic labor standards. They've won important new rights and protections. And most importantly, they've won a whole new model of worker power — a first-in-the-nation Domestic Workers Standards Board which empowers workers & employers to come together to effectively set industry standards on wages, benefits, training, and other issues.

This is a huge step forward. It’s another breakthrough victory for Working Washington members. And just like $15, secure scheduling, paid family leave, and other historic steps for workers rights, it shows how much we can accomplish when come together, speak out, and take action.

Thank you to all the Working Washington members who have gotten us to this point. And if you’re not a member yet, now is the perfect time to join!

gig workers speak out

Gig economy workers with Working WA have been meeting for months to talk about what's working and what needs to change about their jobs and the apps they work for. And last week, they took the first step in bringing benefits & better pay to the gig economy: they made their voices heard at our Gig Worker Speak-Out.

If you couldn't make it, don't worry! You can still hear straight from Instacart shoppers, Doordash drivers, Lyft drivers, and more about the good, bad, & ugly of their jobs by checking out the video here or reading the recap below.

Then, click here to get involved. We need customers, workers, and supporters alike on board to start holding companies like Doordash, Instacart, and Uber accountable for improving working conditions & wages.

"I feel more freedom working in the gig economy. We can make our own schedule. That's what I really like. But in my point of view, the most important thing for workers in the gig economy is health insurance and retirement. Everybody needs to have a safety net. It's good for the companies and it's good for the workers."

— Wafiullah, Lyft driver, Kent

"In mid-2015, I was shopping for Instacart, on an order that had multiple cases of liquid. I fill the cart, and all of a sudden, it feels like somebody has taken an axe to my knee. I called up Instacart and had to be released from the order. I had to get surgery and take a bunch of time off, and I ended up in a homeless respite shelter. After I got out of the shelter, I lived in a tent in the woods for three weeks. I kept working because there was nothing else I could do. I couldn't earn enough money to get a down payment on an apartment. I spent about a year and a half in the homeless shelter system.

The fallout from being injured — being out of work and becoming homeless — would not have happened if there had been benefits in place. If I had workers' comp and insurance when I was recovering from the injury I sustained working my heart out for these people, I would not have been homeless."

— Corwin, Shipt/Instacart shopper, Shoreline

"I'm not really protected by the laws that other workers have here in Washington state. I don't have healthcare, I don't have time off, I don't have sick leave — I'm not even protected if I get hurt on the job, which I have been once before. I'm not protected with unemployment if I get deactivated. The companies expect us to be reliable, but right now, we cannot rely on them. It is time for better standards to be set."

— Mia, Instacart shopper, Seattle

"I'm a W2 worker at a tech company. For me, this is a side gig, but I know people who do this full-time and this is their livelihood. I've heard horror stories. I've seen people who were experienced, who had been doing this for two years and were never late on their deliveries, and all it takes is about two errors. You get a warning email and then you get a dismissal email. Most of the time, it's not really their fault. Traffic jams are horrendous. When you don't deliver on time, you get dinged. If a package is stolen, you get dinged.

It would be nice to have workers' voices out there and some upward channels for communication."

— Roy, Amazon Flex courier, Seattle

"One of the ads I saw said you could do this for a living. Well, I quit my day job because I was thinking, '$25 an hour, heck yeah!'

But you put all you can into this gig, and then you see the decrease in pay over time. It's so minute you don't even notice it until you're getting behind on your bills, and then you end up losing your home. That's my story. I couldn't afford rent anymore. I was living in my van, waking up every morning, and having to go work 12 hours a day just to get by, and then pouring that money back into gas for my car. Sometimes I barely made $100 in that 12-hour day."

— Chris, former Doordash driver, Everett

Workers like Chris, Mia, Roy, Corwin, & Wafiullah speaking out about their work conditions is a huge step in making change. They're fighting to bring portable benefits & better wages to their jobs. But they can't do it alone.

Click here & sign up to help spread the word about our gig workers campaign.

When we all stand together, we can push back against these new issues workers are facing by building new models for workers' rights. Gig workers are on the front lines of our changing economy — so stand with them and let's fight together!

Media:
1. KNKX, clips from July 19, 2018
2. Tacoma News Tribune, "Think it’s easy to deliver groceries or drive a ride-share? Think again, workers say," July 20, 2018
3. Geekwire, "'I wouldn’t have been homeless if I had benefits.' Gig economy workers demand better protections," July 28, 2018

join the party

As workers, we all need schedules that are flexible and predictable enough for us to live our lives. That could mean the freedom to go to school or spend time with our families. It could mean the stability of getting enough hours to pay the rent. It could mean being able to plan ahead so we can make time for the things that matter to us outside of work — whether it's volunteering, making art, or just celebrating special occasions like a birthday or an anniversary.

And if you're going to plan some time to celebrate an anniversary, today isn't a bad day to do it, because it's a big one. A year ago today, Seattle's secure scheduling law went into effect — and tens of thousands of food, coffee, and retail workers started seeing some major changes in their schedules at work and their lives.

I can make some time to celebrate...

Click here to celebrate with us!

So celebrate with us by reading what the workers who won secure scheduling have to say about what the last year has been like for them…

If you think more secure schedules are a cause for celebration, click here to join the party!

Let us know if you're a worker who has seen improvements in scheduling at work since last July — or if there are changes you want to see.

It's clear that when workers come together and fight for change, we can do big things. What can we do by this time next year?

Happy anniversary!

last week, we made history

My name is Ty, and I've been a nanny in Seattle for about three years. And for the last year, I've been a member of Working Washington, fighting for domestic workers' rights.

It's 2018 — but right now, domestic workers across the US are still excluded from federal labor laws, just like we were back in the 1930s when we were left out of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

And last week, we made history when we showed up to support the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights as it was introduced at Seattle City Hall.

We kicked off our campaign last December, and we've been fighting ever since. Seeing our Bill of Rights finally introduced at City Hall — after the months we've spent going to meetings at libraries, coffee shops, and restaurants, speaking out at events, discussing the amendments one by one — was so empowering. I really felt like I had a place — we were all standing there together in support of the bill, making a change and making history.

I've become a leader in this campaign because domestic work is real work. I'm lucky enough to work for a family that really takes care of me. But that wasn’t always the case. A year ago, I was nannying for a family in West Seattle. They cared about me, but they didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing as employers. They didn't provide health insurance, any paid sick leave, or even rest breaks while I was working shifts up to 10 hours. Not having insurance was horrible — I racked up a $1000 bill for an emergency room visit that I'm still paying off. And there were a couple times I got really sick, and since I didn't have paid time off, I ended up losing hours and losing money.

It's really important that domestic workers are treated like other workers, because we're completing jobs, working hours, getting paid for the service we're doing. When you provide health insurance, when you provide breaks and paid time off, you provide a sense of care. You provide a sense of stability, and a foundation for someone to grow off of while they're raising your own.

Being a part of this movement makes me feel like I'm not isolated — like we're all in it together, working as a single organism.

It's time you join the movement, too!

Now that the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights has been introduced, we're going to have to keep up the momentum to get it passed into law. We're not going to stop here. Whether you're a domestic worker or not, we need your support. If workers aren't all on the same team, working together and supporting each other, we won't get anywhere.

We're people too. We deserve equal rights, just like everyone else — and that means earning the minimum wage, getting rest breaks while we’re working, access to insurance, a retirement plan, paid time off, and contracts so there are certain standards to be upheld.

Yes! I support the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights.

Thank you for your support — it's allowed me to become a leader and make this movement HAPPEN. Let's not stop here! I can't wait to see us reach all the domestic workers in Seattle. We can get our Bill of Rights passed, and then build the momentum to secure rights for domestic workers across the country, if we put our hearts in the right place and take action!

— Ty, nanny, musician, and leader with Working Washington