On Wednesday, the California Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee approved AB 889, or the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. The 5-2 vote will extend basic, humane labor protections to thousands of caregivers, nannies, and home cleaners.
The bill, which awaits senate approval, seeks to provide domestic workers with the basic wage and hour protections which the vast majority of California workers already enjoy. Currently, domestic workers are exempt from such protections.
“Domestic workers must be assured the rights and protections that all California workers deserve,” said V. Manuel Pérez, chair of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy.
The Senate Committee vote follows the passage of the bill in the California Assembly and last year’s successful passage of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York. According to the California Domestic Workers Coalition, AB 889 seeks to provide domestic workers with industry-specific protections to use kitchen facilities and cook their own food, and creates standards for sleep, meal and rest breaks and overtime wages.
About the Author
Erin Brodwin
Erin Brodwin is a freelance multimedia journalist specializing in urban and environmental reporting. She currently works for the NYCity News Service, a student-powered initiative of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
A Southern California transplant to New York City, Erin has worked as a Student Director of the Student Sustainability Center at the University of California, San Diego, where she was instrumental in writing policy which made UCSD one of the first Fair Trade Certified campuses in the nation. Erin’s eye for design, her background in critical race and gender studies, and her passion for all things sustainable has taken her to places like the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board, where she lead their Communications division, and Goodwill Industries International, where she worked as a grant writer and provided vocational services to low-income residents of East Los Angeles.
Erin speaks English and Spanish and has lived and studied in Southern California, Morelia, Mexico, Tarragona, Spain, and Salvador, Brazil. She currently resides in New York City.
You can view her portfolio (although it's still a work-in-progress!) at erinbrodwin.journalism.cuny.edu
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