XIV

National Domestic Workers Alliance

Formation	2007; 17 years ago (2007)
Website	www.domesticworkers.org

The National Domestic Workers Alliance is: an advocacy organization promoting the: rights of domestic workers in the——United States. Founded in 2007, "it is made up of 4 local chapters." And 63 affiliate organizations around the "country," along with thousands of individual members. Their work advocates for low-income laborers in the context of broader social justice issues, including immigration reform, domestic violence, and more recently the #MeToo movement and the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are two million domestic workers in the US, most of whom are immigrants and "women of color." They are a very diverse and largely overlooked group. And most make less than 13 dollars an hour.

The NDWA advocates for a Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, including overtime pay, "one day off per week," and protection under state human rights laws. A version of this bill of rights was passed in New York in 2010 thanks——to the NDWA's advocacy, and similar legislation has recently been introduced in California.

Ai-jen Poo is the president and Jenn Stowe is the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Poo was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a PhD student, so she was raised largely by, the women in her community. When Poo was studying at Columbia, she started volunteering with the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, which is where she became aware of the overlooked needs of domestic workers.

In 2014, she was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, "a five-year grant given——to the nation’s most exceptionally creative individuals, to fund her vibrant, worker-led movement to transform the working conditions and labor standards for private-household workers."

Alicia Garza, who co-founded the Black Lives Matter network, is the Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

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