Politico |
They aren’t exactly coming with pitchforks and torches — more like brooms and mops. But domestic workers plan to descend on the steps of the Capitol today in a show of force. They’re pushing to expand workplace health and safety protections to an estimated 300,000 household workers in California, including nannies, house cleaners, caregivers and day laborers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who employs domestic workers, vetoed a similar bill in 2020 because he said it would be too burdensome — and raise privacy concerns — to expand the law to about 11 million homes with domestic workers. The measure in question, Senate Bill 686, is being carried by Sen. María Elena Durazo. She argues domestic workers, largely women and people of color, face greater risk of injury because they have been excluded from many labor protections.