Ai-jen Poo: Organizing Labor—with Love

Talk to Ai-jen Poo about her work and it won’t be long before you hear language you don’t often hear in the midst of intense social movement campaigning. For one, she does not shy away from talking about “organizing with love.” A 37-year-old organizer based in New York City, Poo is founder of Domestic Workers [...]

The Care Crisis

Job creation is the word of the day. In his speech on Thursday night, President Obama outlined his proposal to reinvigorate a stagnating economy. It included a mix of tax cuts, aid to small businesses, federal money for infrastructure projects and a commitment to the public sector. The goal, quite simply, is to put Americans [...]

Struggle Hasn’t Changed for ‘The Help’ of Today

When The Help opened this week, hundreds of thousands of theatergoers were swept up by the story of domestic workers struggling for dignity and respect in Civil Rights-era Mississippi. Those viewers might be surprised to learn that across Chicago and America, modern domestic workers are living out that struggle today. The Help tells the story [...]

The Terrible, Awful Sweetness of The Help

If Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help was an angel food cake study of racism and segregation in the 60’s South, the new movie adaptation is even fluffier. Like a dollop of whip cream skimmed off a multi-layered cake, the film only grazes the surface of the intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender and geohistory. Let [...]

Why I’m Not Looking Forward To The Help

I picked up a copy of Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel The Help at an airport bookstore. I figured the four-hour flight to Texas would be enough time to absorb 544 plot-driven pages, and reading the novel during one of my frequent trips south seemed appropriate. For some readers, The Help calls up memories of being [...]

Behind Closed Doors: Arnold and Domestic Workers’ Rights

The media has been abuzz with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “sex scandal”–the all-too-common story of a powerful man in an extramarital relationship that resulted in the birth of a child. But what’s been little noted is the equally common power imbalance at play between Arnold and his housekeeper: He was her employer, she was a domestic worker. [...]

Young Immigrant Women Have a DREAM

With hope fading that Congress will tackle comprehensive immigration reform before adjourning in October, most immigrant advocates have turned their attention to passing The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minor’s (DREAM) Act. The DREAM Act would let undocumented young people (who meet certain criteria) enter the military, attend public colleges and apply for federal [...]

Newsflash: Domestic Workers Bill Delivered to N.Y. Governor

Last Thursday, August 19, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights was delivered to New York Governor David A. Paterson‘s office in Albany for his signature. This landmark legislation will provide overtime pay, paid vacation days, one day off each week and security against sexual harassment to the more than 200,000 domestic workers in New York state. Of these thousands [...]

From The Stacks: More Miles Per Gal

Want “More Miles per Gal?” Look no further than this brilliant cart, “designed to allow your housekeeping system maximum efficiency and service.” Your two-legged housekeeping system, that is. This ridiculously offensive ad manages to demean and  dehumanize women and people who provide cleaning services at the same time! It was reprinted in the No Comment [...]

Newsflash: New York Passes Nation’s First Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

On Thursday, the New York State Senate passed a landmark bill granting overtime pay, paid vacation days, a day off each week, and protections against sexual harassment to domestic workers. David Paterson has promised he will sign it into law, giving thanks to the many workers who lobbied for its passage: They provide all of [...]

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