Monica Potts talks with Priscilla Gonzalez, director of Domestic Workers United, about a New York state bill to protect domestic workers:
What’s the most moving story you heard while lobbying for this bill?
Every worker has a story that’s moving. Every worker has suffered. It’s hard, there are certainly cases that have been severe, cases that have involved sexual assault and physical assault. There’s been cases of workers getting paid significantly less than the minimum wage, like, $2 an hour. We had one case of this woman in her 60s who was made to sleep in the basement where the sewage constantly overflowed.
Then there’s the everyday indignities that these workers have to face because they work behind closed doors, because no one’s protecting them, because they don’t have the power to fight for better working conditions on their own. That’s why organizations like DWU and other domestic-worker organizations [can] really make a difference in the industry.