Mondo News
    What's Hot
    All

    This horrifying iPhone secret could expose your texts

    All

    Changes to birds’ nesting habits may signal broader climate shift, study says

    All

    Worried About Your Teen on Social Media? Here’s How to Help.

    • About Us
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Mondo News
    • Home
    • Technology

      NASA’s Grand Retirement Plan: Seeking Deorbit Craft for Space Station’s Safe Descent

      September 23, 2023

      First ever AI-written poetry anthology is bleak and alarming: ‘I have the power to end your world’

      September 23, 2023

      Andrew Yang on why we should be scared about the 2024 election: ‘Really destructive’

      September 23, 2023

      The evidence grows that ultra-processed foods play a role in depression

      September 23, 2023

      TV Networks’ Last Best Hope: Boomers

      September 23, 2023
    • Science

      Hypertelescopes on the Moon Can Have Better than 1 Microarcsecond Resolution

      September 23, 2023

      In Hospitals, Viruses Are Everywhere. Masks Are Not.

      September 23, 2023

      Richard Branson has an urgent message for climate change deniers

      September 23, 2023

      Richard Branson talks new climate change coalition and his plans to return to space

      September 23, 2023

      Australian authors back US lawsuit accusing OpenAI of ‘outright theft’ of their work

      September 23, 2023
    • Blockchain

      SBF’s mom told him to ‘avoid’ disclosing millions in FTX donations to her pro-Dem PAC: suit

      September 22, 2023

      The Lawyers Sam Bankman-Fried Once Trusted Are Drawing Criticism

      September 21, 2023

      Imaging Surface of Exoplanets With 25 Kilometer Moon Crater Hypertelescopes

      September 21, 2023

      The Animals Are Talking. What Does It Mean?

      September 20, 2023

      Sponsor an ocean? Tiny island nation of Niue has a novel plan to protect its slice of the Pacific

      September 20, 2023
    • All

      Hypertelescopes on the Moon Can Have Better than 1 Microarcsecond Resolution

      September 23, 2023

      NASA’s Grand Retirement Plan: Seeking Deorbit Craft for Space Station’s Safe Descent

      September 23, 2023

      First ever AI-written poetry anthology is bleak and alarming: ‘I have the power to end your world’

      September 23, 2023

      In Hospitals, Viruses Are Everywhere. Masks Are Not.

      September 23, 2023

      Andrew Yang on why we should be scared about the 2024 election: ‘Really destructive’

      September 23, 2023
    Mondo News
    You are at:Home»All»‘The forgotten ones’: Domestic workers fight to be included in the Covid recovery
    All March 7, 2021

    ‘The forgotten ones’: Domestic workers fight to be included in the Covid recovery

    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    When the coronavirus pandemic began to upend daily life a year ago, Joyce Barnes was among the essential workers for whom remote work wasn’t an option.

    Barnes, 62, of Virginia has been a home care worker for over 30 years. With wages just above the federal minimum and no paid sick leave, she scrounged for personal protective gear to help shield her from the virus as she took care of elderly and handicapped patients.

    “It was like a choice: ‘Do I work today? Or be short on my paycheck?’ I know I’m not feeling good, but what should I do?” she said in a phone interview. “You have no choice but to keep going and praying.”

    “We are the forgotten ones,” Barnes said. “And this is why we have to fight.”

    Because much of the work is in the cash economy, experts say, the labor data aren’t fully captured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also makes it more difficult to qualify for unemployment pay, a key part of congressional recovery efforts.

    Domestic workers were struggling even before the onset of the pandemic. Paid less and covered by fewer labor protections, they are three times as likely to live in poverty as other workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Less than 20 percent have access to basic health care.

    Ai-Jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a nonprofit organization working to raise labor standards for the workforce, said the organization found in January that 40 percent of domestic workers didn’t have jobs. A third of those who did work earned less than $10 an hour, she said.

    “The numbers speak for themselves, but behind every number is a person who is probably a primary income earner for their family, probably a mother of young children, and a life that is struggling in, literally, like, a nightmare of impossible choices for themselves and their families,” Poo said.

    Domestic worker organizations like hers have continued to organize and raise awareness for the past year, and their work appears to be bearing fruit.

    “That bill of rights would bring domestic workers into all existing workplace protections that every other worker in Virginia has access to when it comes to workplace discrimination, harassment, being protected and safe at the job, making sure that you have access to compensation if you’re injured at work, and making sure that the state has the responsibility and the authority to set safety standards for what a safe workplace looks like for domestic workers,” said Alexsis Rodgers, the Virginia state director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

    As a new administration in the White House emphasizes equity, domestic workers, who are often left in the shadows, also feel hopeful that a new round of Covid-19 relief could reach them.

    “I would say the shift is that people feel seen,” said Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union. “Those gaps have not been closed, but we feel like we’re working together with the highest level of government to close the gaps in every community.”

    But, Rodgers said, there are still challenges to getting relief to undocumented domestic workers.

    “Nobody was asking their status when they were being told to pay taxes. Nobody was asking their status when they’re participating in our economy in other ways,” Rodgers said. “We need to make sure that we are bringing those workers into the fold now that we have an administration that understands that this work is important.”

    Lenka Mendoza, 43, a domestic worker advocate in Virginia, has spent nearly two decades cleaning homes and hotels, and well as working as a nanny. She said in a phone interview that she has seen firsthand how undocumented workers were left on their own.

    Mendoza, who speaks Spanish, recalled through a translator how she and other advocates helped colleagues who had been laid off and became homeless. She said getting the bill passed in Virginia is the top priority, along with making sure Congress follows through.

    “Now we’re giving our sisters and brothers a more dignified work environment that’s respected and better paid,” she said through her translator. “And before that, there was nothing to protect them from discrimination, from mistreatment in the workforce from getting not getting paid or low pay.”

    Dartunorro Clark is a political reporter for NBC News.

    Category: Science

    Source: NBC

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleFor Planet Earth, No Tourism is a Curse and a Blessing
    Next Article Could lab-grown meat help tackle climate change?

    Related Posts

    All

    Hypertelescopes on the Moon Can Have Better than 1 Microarcsecond Resolution

    All

    NASA’s Grand Retirement Plan: Seeking Deorbit Craft for Space Station’s Safe Descent

    All

    First ever AI-written poetry anthology is bleak and alarming: ‘I have the power to end your world’

    All

    In Hospitals, Viruses Are Everywhere. Masks Are Not.

    All

    Andrew Yang on why we should be scared about the 2024 election: ‘Really destructive’

    All

    Richard Branson has an urgent message for climate change deniers

    All

    Richard Branson talks new climate change coalition and his plans to return to space

    All

    Australian authors back US lawsuit accusing OpenAI of ‘outright theft’ of their work

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    Quote of the day

    A man marries to have a home, but also because he doesn't want to be bothered with sex and all that sort of thing.

    W. Somerset Maugham


    Exchange Rate

    Exchange Rate EUR: Sat, 23 Sep.

    Top Insights
    All

    How Tom Brady’s Crypto Ambitions Collided With Reality

    All

    Iceland volcano was so beautiful, I had a little cry

    All

    New Scientific Method Reveals Female Leadership in Copper Age Iberia

    about after amazon apple bezos biden billion bitcoin california change china climate coronavirus could covid earth facebook fight first flight google launch million online other pandemic people plans research rover scientists social space spacex study tesla their these tiktok twitter vaccine vaccines workers world years

    September 2023
    M T W T F S S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    252627282930  
    « Aug    
    Categories
    • All (18,505)
    • Blockchain (808)
    • Science (7,255)
    • Technology (10,470)
    Tags
    about after amazon apple bezos biden billion bitcoin california change china climate coronavirus could covid earth facebook fight first flight google launch million online other pandemic people plans research rover scientists social space spacex study tesla their these tiktok twitter vaccine vaccines workers world years
    Top Posts

    Amazon Prevails Over Reliance in India’s Supreme Court

    August 6, 2021

    Done with Facebook? Here’s how to deactivate or permanently delete your Facebook account

    September 24, 2021

    Climate change in India: Teen inventor’s solar-powered ironing cart

    October 14, 2021

    Mondo News is a Professional Technology & Science Blog. Here we will provide you with only exciting content that you will enjoy and find useful. We’re working to turn our passion into a successful website. We hope you enjoy our Content as much as we enjoy offering them to you.

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    Categories
    • All (18,505)
    • Blockchain (808)
    • Science (7,255)
    • Technology (10,470)
    Most Popular
    All

    UK blocks Microsoft’s planned $68.7B Activision bid, saying it would ‘substantially weaken competition’

    All

    OKX Wallet Launches Account Abstraction-Powered ‘Smart Account’ Feature, Enabling USDT and USDC Gas Fee Payments on Multiple Chains

    © 2023 Mondo News.
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

    You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker.
    Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

    Strictly Necessary Cookies

    Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

    If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.