Josie Brown worked on this article with Larissa Costa of the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance.
In November 2022, Street Sense reported on domestic workers’ long struggle for recognition as the D.C. Council prepared to enact a historic new law. That law — the Domestic Workers Employment Rights Amendment Act — gave the right to a written contract with their employer and extended protections against employment discrimination to more than 9,000 nannies, cleaners, and caregivers in the District. Three years later, organizers say the work is far from finished.
“Domestic work is the work that makes all other work possible,” said Alana Eichner, co-director of the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). “Families can go to their jobs because someone is caring for their children, their elders, and their homes. Yet this labor has always been undervalued.”…