What We Do
Education
We believe in order to empower domestic workers, we must educate ourselves and each other. We run Domestic Worker Town Halls, Know Your Rights sessions, job and skills trainings, leadership development workshops, and political education seminars for our members and allies. Our programs in recent years have included:
• Amplifying domestic worker stories with story sharing events • Peer to peer interview projects/autoethnography • Nanny and Labor Rights Trainings • Fundraising Trainings • Computer and Smartphone/Tablet Literacy • Leader Training Workshops • CPR Certifications • Singing, dance, and writing workshops for liberation
Organizing
We participate in grassroots campaigns that push for progressive legislation, pressure employers to end unfair labor practices, educate communities that employ domestic workers on their rights and obligations, and fight against discrimination in the workplace. We are proud to have assisted our members in 2021 to apply for the New York State’s Excluded Workers Fund. The Excluded Workers Fund provided immigrant essential workers, of a variety of immigration statuses, who could not qualify for federal unemployment or pandemic stimulus payments, with a crucial source of financial relief to address their economic losses due to Covid-19-related job loss and illness. Together with the Ain’t I A Woman Campaign, DWU 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, while getting paid for 12 hours or les—or nothing, as if being given shelter alone were somehow “payment” for caring for an elder or a child 24/7.
Cultural Activities
As a community, we learn through storytelling how to leave our legacy for future generations. We believe storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for community organizing. When we share our stories, we inspire each other, we build solidarity, we recognize how our struggles are interconnected, and we propel our movement forward. We see the value in our members’ cultural heritage, and we empower each other to celebrate where we are from. Some of our cultural activities are:
• PEN Workers Writers’ Workshop
• Public Theater Public Works Shakespeare Plays
In 2022, DWU was the recipient of a two-year Artist Employment Grant from Creatives Rebuild New York, to compose, act, and produce our own work stories as theater by domestic workers for domestic workers. Read more here.
