Former domestic worker fights for labor rights



Angela Alvarez - a former domestic worker who now a lead organizer for the domestic workers movement at IDEPSCA

Angela Alvarez  is a former domestic worker who is now a lead organizer for the domestic workers movement at IDEPSCA | Sinduja Rangarajan

As a former live-in housekeeper, Angela Alvarez quietly worked 15- to 18-hour days. She ate her employer’s throwaway food. She stayed up late after parties to clean up the mess.

It was Alvarez’s first job in the United States and she thought the long hours were normal.

Once, Alvarez took a day off for being sick and her employer penalized her by paying 25 percent less for the entire week. Alvarez quit her job.

That was injustice, Alvarez said. “They never gave me money for taking care of their grandson; they never gave me money for cleaning their daughter’s house.” [Read more…]