New York State has the chance to lead the nation in extending basic workplace protections to domestic workers — the nannies, housekeepers and caregivers for the elderly who are as essential to the economy as they are overlooked and unprotected.
In a city of secret economies, few are as vital to the life of New York as the business of nannies, the legions of women who emancipate high-powered professionals and less glamorous working parents from the duties of daily child care.
Those nannies, as well as other domestic workers who make possible the lives of New York’s eternally striving work force, have long gone without basic workplace guarantees that most employees take for granted.
Every day, 200,000 domestic workers in New York make it possible for their employers to go to work. Yet, many of these mostly immigrant women of color are employed without a living wage, health care and basic labor protections.
"As far as I am concerned, these folks are the economic backbone of New York," said Assemblyman Keith Wright (D-Harlem). "[Yet] they are an invisible segment of society."
In an effort to assist those in their search for employment opportunities, my office is hosting a Career Fair this Tuesday, August 3, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Brighton Heights Reformed Church, located at 320 St Marks Place in Staten Island, NY.
Over 70 employers will be in attendance, looking to fill positions in a variety of fields including Civil Service, Banking, Customer Service, Warehouse and Factory, Retail and Sales, Food Service, and Health Care.
Job searchers will have the opportunity to attend free workshops on Job Readiness, Interview Skills and Financial Empowerment/Management. To participate in the workshop, please RSVP to savinoevents@gmail.com.
Job Seekers with all levels of experience and education are welcome!
“I am deeply disappointed in today’s refusal, on the part of certain members of the State Senate, to put decency and common sense before playing politics. “In saying ‘no’ to saving the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation, they said no to the more than 1,000 workers who are now left jobless, smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. They said no to millions of dollars worth of revenue that the entire state benefits from. They said no to the thousands of other jobs and industries—throughout the state—that are created and fueled by the New York City OTB. “Instead they voted yes to partisanship and political grandstanding, and the unfortunate victims are taxpayers and the hundreds of workers who are now unemployed.”
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