Webinar: Does 1199SEIU’s Settlement for Home Care Workers Signal a Historic High or Historic Low in Today’s Labor and Feminist Movements?
k before International Working Women’s Day, 1199SEIU, one of the country’s largest unions fighting for racial equality, announced “historic” settlement for their home care workers, many of whom worked many years of 24-hour shifts and were cheated of their pay. Though bringing $30 million to 120,000 workers, the settlement actually lets employers get away with paying only 0.5% of the total wages ($6 billion) owed. Despite its progressive branding and positive media coverage, the union’s decision suggests that immigrant women workers should feel grateful for crumbs and actually perpetrates the sexist and racist trope of women of color willing to work inhumane 24-hour shifts. This PKIWLC event, joined by Professor Shirley Lung of CUNY School of Law, the Ain’t I a Woman?! Campaign, and Women Against Racist Violence, will look at this on-the-ground case study and the workers’ response, and invite all to discuss: what is the state of the labor movement and women’s rights today? At a historic high, or a historic low?
