Domestic workers in Miami-Dade rally for more rights

Miami-Dade community leaders and domestic workers rallied Monday to commemorate International Domestic Workers' Day and demand better labor protections for workers such as nannies, house cleaners, baby sitters and home care aides whom they say keep Miami-Dade county moving.
Monday's gathering organized by WeCount! and The Women's Fund Miami-Dade at Government Center Plaza in downtown Miami kicked off with a mariachi band and live performances. The event honored the 60,000 domestic workers in Miami-Dade and brought visibility into issues workers face including low wages, sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
'Without their important, critical labor, our society would cease to function,' said Esteban Wood, policy director at WeCount!. Wood said there needs to be more recognition of the importance of the labor domestic workers perform and the vulnerabilities they face in the workplace.
'Many of these workers work alone. Which means that they work at work sites where if they suffer some sort of discrimination or harassment, there aren't witnesses,' he said.
Domestic workers are excluded from federal laws which prohibit workplace discrimination and harassment since most workers are employed by families privately. For an employee to file claims for discrimination or harassment, an employer must have 15 or more employees.
Miami-Dade local laws offer similar thresholds for protection of workers against sexual harassment or discrimination. Domestic workers are not offered such protections because often they are employed by a single person.
In May, the Miami-Dade Commission on Human Rights urged Miami-Dade commissioners to adopt an ordinance that would expand the county's employment discrimination codes to include protections for domestic workers against sexual harassment and to eliminate the employee-size requirements.
Erika Varela, 48, said she has been working as a cleaner since 2019. She said she showed up because she felt her labor rights had been violated at work. 'Sometimes we don't have the salary we should have, they don't give us breaks. They treat us super bad,' she said, describing her working conditions.
Varela, who is from Honduras, waved the Honduras blue and white striped flag with five stars and a sign that said in Spanish, 'United workers will never be defeated.' She migrated to the United States in search of security and freedom, but says she has encountered terrible working conditions as a domestic worker. 'Sometimes I suffer because I don't have security,' she said.
A 2022 study by the Florida Policy Institute which evaluated more than 112,000 domestic workers in Florida found 94% were women and 60% were immigrants.
'I am proud to celebrate this day every day because our community employs so many of these women,' said Miami-Dade commissioner for District 5 Eileen Higgins. 'Every worker has rights, whether they're working in a big company or they're working as a domestic worker,' Higgins said on the importance of lifting the voices of domestic workers.
The crowd chanted 'Si se puede,' and waved flags of different South American countries as community leaders spoke of the need for robust labor legislation supporting domestic workers. Agua Dulce, 34, a volunteer with multiple organizations that support domestic workers including WeCount! led the crowd in singing a mariachi rendition of Selena's 'Como La Flor.'
'I think it's very important and pivotal for us who have certain privileges, to be able to uplift the issues and needs of people who are more marginalized, especially when it comes to domestic workers' she said.

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