Critical Social Inquiry 0259 - Organizing the Unorganizeable

Recently, several states including New York, Massachusetts and California have passed Domestic Workers Bill of Rights legislation. This legislation establishes clear standards for defining the length of the workday, the right to sick days and maternity leave as well as appropriate rest and meal breaks. These recent victories bode well for future organizing efforts, but also draw inspiration from historical movements of domestic, laundry and hospital workers. Labor organizers have often overlooked the plight of domestic workers by arguing that their work in private homes made them impossible to organize. This course will explore the history of domestic workers, the efforts of scholars to document their struggle and the ongoing effort to make domestic work visible and included within existing legal frameworks for providing basic protections for workers. Throughout the semester, we will ask the question: why the domestic sphere and care work were often considered outside of the realm of rights claims, even by labor organizers? The last section of the course will focus on current campaigns to expand domestic and service worker rights and pay particular attention to the impact of home health care worker campaigns on public sector workers' rights.

Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.