Workers' Awaaz (or "Workers' Voice") is a nonprofit, nonpartisan female domestic workers' group based in New York City. Although the group supports all women in domestic services, its primary focus is on women from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal).
Workers' Awaaz was founded in June 1997 by a group of South Asian women activists and domestic workers. Workers' Awaaz assists workers in ensuring that they are paid the minimum wage, receive overtime pay, are aware of their rights under workers' compensation laws, and receive training in basic employee rights and protection under state and federal law. The organization also sues employers on behalf of domestic workers for violations of federal and state laws, and organizes pickets and demonstrations against abusive employers.
Workers' Awaaz also works to build public awareness of the sometimes abusive conditions under which many South Asian domestic workers labor in the U.S.
Since many immigrant domestics are isolated by language, working conditions and restrictions placed on them by employers, Workers' Awaaz uses a variety of outreach efforts to reach workers in need. It places advertisements in various South Asian-related newspapers, sets up tables at South Asian community events, and engages in face-to-face conversations in markets and stores.
Workers' Awaaz has won several lawsuits filed on behalf of workers against employers who did not pay minimum wage, withhold taxes or make Social Security and other required government payments.
In 1998, Workers' Awaaz, working with the American Civil Liberties Union, won a $20,000 back pay settlement. In January 2000, the organization won a back pay award for $50,000 from physicians who refused to pay a domestic worker for nearly three years.
In 1997, Workers' Awaaz won a $5,000 grassroots grant from the Ben & Jerry's Foundation.
In 1998, Ahmed was honored as a fellow of the Petra Foundation for her advocacy work with Workers' Awaaz. In 2000, the organization was awarded a Union Square Award from the Tides Center for its grassroots activism and strengthening of immigrant communities in New York City.
In 2000, Shahbano Aliani, M. Bala, Shahensha Begum, Rekha Devi, Rokeya Mollah and Rokeya Begum—lead organizers and board members—received the Union Square Award from the Fund for the City of New York.
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service". Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly dependents, and other household errands.
A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, commonly known as Begum Rokeya, was a prominent Bangladeshi feminist thinker, writer, educator, professor, teacher, writer and women empowerment and political activist for Muslim girls from Bangladesh
Richard Louis Trumka was an American attorney and organized labor leader. He served as president of the United Mine Workers from 1982 to 1995, and then was secretary-general of the AFL–CIO from 1995 to 2009. He was elected president of the AFL–CIO on September 16, 2009, at the federation's convention in Pittsburgh, and served in that position until his death.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) is a labor union representing migrant farm workers in the Midwestern United States and North Carolina.
Migrant domestic workers are, according to the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 and the International Organization for Migration, any persons "moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family," engaged in a work relationship performing "in or for a household or households." Domestic work itself can cover a "wide range of tasks and services that vary from country to country and that can be different depending on the age, gender, ethnic background and migration status of the workers concerned." These particular workers have been identified by some academics as situated within "the rapid growth of paid domestic labor, the feminization of transnational migration, and the development of new public spheres." Prominent discussions on the topic include the status of these workers, reasons behind the pursue in this labour, recruitment and employment practices in the field, and various measures being undertaken to change the conditions of domestic work among migrants.
Sima Samar is an Afghan woman and human rights advocate, activist and social worker within national and international forums, who served as Minister of Women's Affairs of Afghanistan from December 2001 to 2003. She is the former Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and, from 2005 to 2009, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan. In 2011, she was part of the newly founded Truth and Justice party. In 2012, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her longstanding and courageous dedication to human rights, especially the rights of women, in one of the most complex and dangerous regions in the world."
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a New York-based national organization founded in 1974 that seeks to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.
The Chinese Staff and Worker's Association (CSWA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan workers' rights organization based in New York City which educates and organizes workers in the United States so that they may improve their working conditions. It primarily assists workers in restaurants, the garment and construction industries, although it is active among workers in a variety of professions. The organization serves workers from all backgrounds, most of its members are Chinese and most of its efforts directed at employers in Chinatown.
Voice of the Free is a non-profit, non-stock, and tax-exempt non-government organization in the Philippines established in 1991. Voice of the Free (VF) works for the welfare of marginalized migrants, especially those working in the invisible and informal sectors. It works in issues of domestic work, child labor, and human trafficking- especially of women and children.
The kafala system is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf Cooperation Council member states and a few neighbouring countries, namely Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Ai-jen Poo is an American labor activist. She is the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She is also the director of Caring Across Generations, a national coalition of 200 advocacy organizations working to transform the long-term care system in the US, with a focus on the needs of aging Americans, people with disabilities, and their caregivers.
A Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights is legislation designed to grant basic labor protections to domestic workers. These laws are supported by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a labor advocacy group founded in 2007. The first such law took effect in New York state on November 29, 2010. Among other rights, this law gave domestic workers the right to overtime pay, a day of rest every seven days, three paid days of rest each year, protection under the state human rights law, and a special cause of action for domestic workers who suffer sexual or racial harassment.
Mahmuda Khatun Siddiqua was a Bangladeshi poet, essayist, and a pioneering women's liberation activist. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1977 by the Government of Bangladesh.
Feminism in Bangladesh seeks equal rights of women in Bangladesh through social and political change. Article 28 of Bangladesh constitution states that "Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of the State and of public life".
Hasna Begum was a Bangladeshi philosopher and feminist, and a professor of philosophy at the University of Dhaka until her retirement in December 2000.
Anannya Top Ten Awards is the prize for women in Bangladesh recognition of contribution to the fields of agriculture, industrial, trade, economics, acting, music, sports, education, liberation war, social welfare and development-work-law, human rights, entrepreneur, politics and journalism. The award is being given since 1993.
The Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) is a trade union federation of garment workers in Bangladesh. It is considered one of the four main federations of garment workers' unions. BIGUF is affiliated with the IndustriALL Global Union and a member organisation of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity. It is also one of the signatories of the Bangladesh Accord. Unlike many other trade unions in Bangladesh, it is explicitly not affiliated with any political party.
The treatment of South Asian labourers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is an ongoing issue between members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations and the wealthy oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council. The current large number of migrants from South Asia to the Persian Gulf began in the 1960s, when the oil boom in the Gulf Arab countries resulted in migrant labourers. This further increased with the development of large mega-cities. With the growth of megacities of Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, the need for construction labourers grew. Migrants from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were contracted to develop the mushrooming skyscrapers. Many of these migrants were brought into the GCC under the kafala system, a sponsor-based system used in the GCC, which is seen by many human rights groups as highly exploitative, since their passports are confiscated and are forced to work in low-level conditions, with cramped living quarters, low salary, and sometimes even without their due pay; when exploitation is brought up or exposed by media or the labourers, their employers are rarely punished.
Perween Hasan is a Bangladesh academic and rights activist. She is the chairperson of Transparency International Bangladesh. She is the Vice-Chancellor of the Central Women's University.