Domestic Workers Rally with Pots and Pans for Labor Rights

The National Domestic Workers Alliance and the California Domestic Workers Coalition launched its 2013 campaign Thursday to convince the governor to sign AB 241, a bill protecting the rights of domestic workers. 

The bill would give workers the right to overtime pay, lunch and leisure time, workers compensation, access to the kitchen, and compensation for sick days for employees that work within their employer's household.

Attendees at the opening rally outside the L.A. State Building Thursday morning were asked to bring pots and pans along with other cleaning and cooking utensils to bang together as a symbol of their support for basic working conditions. 

AB 241 follows a the AB 889 bill that was given to Governor Jerry Brown to sign last year. Brown vetoed that bill saying the costs that would be placed on the disabled and elderly people if the bill was passed needed to be investigated more. 

While workers believe the bill is beneficial, others, like Brown, are not in support of it.

Kenneth Erman, the CEO for RX Staffing and Homecare, said AB 247 would make it more difficult for people who need homecare to afford it.

"The bill would make it impossible for companies providing live-in care givers to continue provide that at a rate that would be affordable for clients."

Erman continued: "It would require hourly pay even when they (the people who need the care) are sleeping."