Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights

Four Questions About Labor Rights

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On March 23, we celebrated the 17th Annual Labor Seder, at which we celebrated the Passover holiday and the struggles of workers, drawing parallels between the liberation of Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt and current struggles of employees trying to win equitable pay and better working conditions.JewishBoston.com invited us to write four questions about labor rights as part of their collection of questions written by Jewish social justice organizations for the Passover Seder.We encourage you to read through our questions (below), to incorporate them into your Seder this year, and to use them to facilitate conversations with friends and family about workers' rights and the values of our Jewish traditions this Pesach.If you'd like to use our haggadah at your Seder, view and download a copy here.


Four Questions About Labor Rights

Like slaves, many workers have no say in their working conditions.Like slaves, workers give up their dignity to serve the bottom line. Passover is an ideal time to engage in the struggle for workers' rights and economic justice. We can look at what is going on with people who work in all kinds of jobs, including our own. This holiday calls us to become involved in advancing the dignity of workers.

Judaism values work and workers. Go around the table: What kind of work do you do, and do you feel respected at work?

We spend much of our lives working, so it's important that people are respected for their work, no matter their position. Respect for one's work is demonstrated in many ways, such as paying workers decent wages, listening to how they think the work could best be done and allowing time and flexibility for people to pay attention to their families and their own health. At the Jewish Labor Committee, we understand that low-wage workers and middle-class workers are often taken advantage of, and that it's important to stand up for all workers. We work in the Jewish community to gather support for workers.

Many people who have jobs don't get paid enough to pay for basic needs or work in unsafe conditions. What are the ways that unions, government policy and consumer demand can help change workers' conditions?

For the better part of a century, the Jewish Labor Committee has worked to engage the Jewish community in supporting union campaigns, legislation and consumer boycotts that have improved the lives of thousands of people. When businesses and legislators see that the Jewish community takes a stand on worker issues, it makes a significant difference. In the past year, the New England Jewish Labor Committee supported Verizon workers, janitors and Harvard University dining-hall workers to win union contracts that improved their wages, provided job security and improved or continued their health-care benefits. Currently, in the Massachusetts Legislature, we are working to pass an increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as well as pass the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act to help employees when they or their family members are ill, or when a new child comes into the family.

The story of Passover teaches us that slavery is wrong. Where does slavery currently exist in the U.S. and in the world, and what's being done to stop it?

It's hard to imagine that slavery exists today, but it does, even in the United States-on farms, in prisons and in homes. In recent years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, whose work the Jewish Labor Committee has been involved with for the past five years, exposed and halted slavery on farms in Florida. There are also domestic workers across the U.S. and in Massachusetts who are not allowed to leave the households where they work because their employers have taken their passports and cell phones to prevent them from leaving. The Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers, along with the New England Jewish Labor Committee, is one of the groups fighting against this.Our criminal-justice system does not protect prisoners from working for nothing or almost nothing, producing large profits for corporations in much the same way African-American slaves worked as slaves in the U.S. before the Civil War. We have many social-action groups in Massachusetts synagogues that are working for criminal-justice reform. There are also organizations, such as the National Council of Jewish Women, who are working to stop the practice of girls and young women being taken into the sex industry against their will.

In our society, people who have different work lives than we do may be invisible to us. What might we gain, as individuals and as a society, by getting to know people who earn their living in different ways than we do?

Part of the reason our country is experiencing such a big political divide is that we don't have much real contact with people of different socio-economic classes than our own. As economic inequality has grown, we have less easy opportunities to build relationships with people who have different kinds of jobs. Reaching out to people and hearing each other's stories will help bridge that divide. This helps everyone feel more connected, hopeful and less alone.


Chag pesach same'ach! Happy Passover!

Update on the Domestic Workers and Employers Oral History Project

On Sunday, December 4, almost 50 participants from MataHari Women Workers’ Center, the JLC, and the broader community joined together for "In Our Care: Creating Community Protection in an Era of Uncertainty." This was the first event unveiling the findings of our two year long Domestic Workers and Employers Oral History project. We shared our personal histories around migration and began the important work of building bridges based on our shared experiences of immigration.We encourage people to continue to support the Oral History project and the advancement of immigrants' rights and domestic workers' rights by making a donation here.We look forward to a full presentation of the project in September 2017. Stay tuned!Oral historian Jayne Guberman reporting on the Domestic Workers and Employers Oral History project at "In Our Care: Creating Community Protection in an Era of Uncertainty."MataHari Executive Director Monique Nguyen tells her family's story of migration at "In Our Care: Creating Community Protection in an Era of Uncertainty."

In Our Care: Creating Community Protection in an Era of Uncertainty

First Report on Oral History Project of Domestic Workers and Employers of Domestic Workers

WHEN: Sunday, December 4, 3-6 PM
WHERE: 50 Milk Street, 14th Floor, Boston

Facebook event here. Please RSVP.

"In Our Care" is a community building series where we will discuss the future of domestic care in our lives and in our society. How does our view of domestic work/labor impact the way we all care for one another in society?

In a post-2016-election environment, domestic workers, many of whom are immigrants, are seeing an increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric, hate crimes, and proposed anti-immigrant policies. The fear and apprehension in our communities are real. On December 4th, in the first of our series on care, we will come together to begin to build relationships across the lines of immigration status to vision together, to resist division, and to create alternative models of safety and protection.

Background: Two years ago, Matahari Women Workers' Center and the New England Jewish Labor Committee embarked on an oral history project to honor the history and lived realities of those who do care work and receive care. We want to build a bridge between domestic workers and domestic employers and engage in shaping a future free from exploitation, where workers are respected, valued, and families have access to dignified care through all stages of life.
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Please RSVP to the Facebook event or to NewEnglandJLC@jewishlabor.org. Email or call with questions: NewEnglandJLC@jewishlabor.org or 617 227-0888.

Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Employers Forum on Sunday Jan 25th, 2015

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Do you employ a nanny, au pair, caregiver or housekeeper?

If yes, come learn about the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and what is required for a just workplace!

Check our Facebook Event Page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/359455954227218/?ref=22

Our Home is Someone’s Workplace: Domestic Workers’ Bill of RightsEmployers ForumSunday, January 25, 2015 at Temple Beth Zion2:00 - 4:30 PM1566 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446

signing_domesticCo-Sponsored by MataHari/Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers, the New England Jewish Labor Committee, and Temple Beth Zion.

This program is designed to be informative, interactive, and collaborative. Employers will learn about the new law and what is needed for compliance. The law goes into effect on April 1, 2015. Take advantage of this lead time to learn the details of the law, to share concerns and questions, to gather information about implementation, and to address pertinent issues regarding the employer-employee relationship.

Come and learn together! Get a free sample contract and additional resources!

Featured speakers:Lydia Edwards of Greater Boston Legal Services and the Massachusetts Coalition for Domestic Workers (MCDW)Rabbi Claudia Kreiman of Temple Beth Zion

Who should come?

  • Anyone who employs a nanny, au pair, caregiver or housekeeper

Why should I come?

  • Update and enhance your efforts as a responsible employer
  • Learn the specifics of the new law
  • Benefit from suggestions for compliance
  • Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, and identify steps toward implementation
  • Become an informed employer AND citizen engaging in this new frontier for civil rights

 

Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Signed Into Law     

Since December of 2012, the NE JLC has been working to pass the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (DWBR), which would establish basic workplace rights for nannies, housekeepers and caregivers employed in private homes. For example, the NE JLC mobilized people to go the State House to advocate for the DWBR, organized living room talks to raise awareness of conditions for domestic workers among those who employ them, and spoke about the DWBR at several synagogues. Through the advocacy of the NE JLC, the Somerville Board of Alderman voted unanimously to support the DWBR.The DWBR passed in the State House and was signed by the Governor on July 2nd, 2014. NE JLC will continue to work to educate the Jewish community and help implement the bill.

Governor Patrick praises outgoing Labor Secretary Joanne Goldstein at 14th Annual Labor Seder

Governor Deval Patrick kicked off the Fourteenth Annual Labor Seder last Tuesday at Temple Israel in Boston by saying that former Secretary of Labor Joanne Goldstein “was the best Secretary of Labor the Commonwealth has ever had.” The New England Jewish Labor Committee (NE JLC)  honored Goldstein with the Clara Lemlich Shavelson Award for  lifetime commitment to workers in Massachusetts.

“How fitting that we are gathered here for a Seder, the quintessential Jewish expression of freedom, which includes for me economic and social justice and the human right to life, free of poverty and complete with dignity,” Goldstein observed.

The Labor Seder draws parallels between the liberation of Jews from slavery and current issues facing workers. This year, the NE JLC recognized the Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers and their effort to get the proposed Domestic Workers Bill of Rights passed. The NE JLC also recognized workers of the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel in Allston who are asking the hotel for a neutrality agreement on deciding on union representation. Additionally, the Pathways Pre-apprenticeship program was recognized for helping people in underserved communities get good jobs in the trades.

The NE JLC Board at the Labor Seder

Rabbi Barbara Penzner of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury and incoming Co-Chair of the NE JLC led the Labor Seder. “The Labor Seder celebrates its 14th anniversary this year. In Hebrew letters, 14 spells the word ‘yad’ which means hand. That's what this event is all about--giving a helping hand to lift people up with better jobs, and to join hands together as allies to bring liberation to our world, just as our ancestors were liberated from Egypt.”

Yehuda Yaakov, the new Consul General of Israel, attended the Labor Seder even though workers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including all consuls around the world, is on strike. The NE JLC asked him to come despite the strike so that the participants could express solidarity with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs workers.

Every year, Jewish community leaders, labor leaders, elected officials, and community activists gather at the Labor Seder to celebrate the holiday of Passover. The story of Passover tells how Jewish slaves in Egypt broke the chains of oppression and fought together for liberation and freedom. The Labor Seder is a unique interfaith event where we build bridges that enable us all to pursue justice with greater strength and commitment. We hope you will join us next year! 

Solidarity forever!...for the union makes us strong!