According to internationalists, lefties, labor bosses and other assorted loons, today (December 10th) is International Human Rights Day. Organized around the 1948 signing of the U.N.s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, union bosses co-opted this day some years ago to use as a day to push for the ultimate union bailout, the hallucinogenically-named Employee The job-destroying EFCA, as it's commonly referred to, effectively kills secret-ballot elections on unionization and gives the government the ability to dictate workers wages and benefits through 'binding arbitration.' [Read the bill.]
This year's International Human Rights Day has taken a slightly different twist. As opposed to the usual holding of rallies across the U.S. demanding that the government take away workers' right to vote, union bosses being a bit more subdued and, instead, calling for a whole host of changes in the way "domestic workers" (housekeepers, maids and babysitters) are treated.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's assistant Ana Avendaño states: “the domestic worker industry is riddled with abuse, mistreatment and labor violations.”
The mostly female and immigrant domestic workforce is particularly vulnerable due to the isolated nature of the industry, where women labor behind closed doors and out of the public eye.
Domestic workers’ exclusion from the National Labor Relations Act means they are unprotected when asking for respect of their basic rights and are unable to collectively bargain for conditions allowing them to labor in dignity. For all these reasons, it’s critically important that we create strong labor standards for domestic workers.
According to the AFL-CIO's blog:
In New York and California, domestic workers are proposing Domestic Worker Bills of Rights that ensure overtime pay, workers compensation, health and safety protections, notice of termination, vacation and sick leave, annual cost of living increases and five hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Imagine, some day, when Buffy-the-Babysitter comes to your door to care for your kids, she could be coming with her union steward in tow.
And, those smelly diapers? They could be considered hazardous-duty pay.
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