RGV Equal Voice Jobs' Working Group. . .
Advocates push for domestic workers’ rights
Melissa Montoya | The Brownsville Herald | Posted: Friday, July 12, 2013 5:18 pm
BROWNSVILLE — Organizers in the Rio Grande Valley have begun a campaign to help inform domestic workers about their rights.
About two months ago an announcement was made to let workers know they have the right to a minimum wage of $7.25 in the state, Katy Youker, an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said. About 50 people have contacted the organization to complain of abuses they endured while on the job, she said, and domestic workers in this case include nannies and maids.
“We’re talking about women getting two or three dollars an hour,” Youker said. “Sometimes they’re not getting paid at all.”
In some cases, Youker said, employers have threatened to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep workers from complaining to authorities.
Because of these threats people who are in the United States illegally might be fearful of reporting their employers, Youker said.
The important thing, Youker said, is that workers need to remember that the law protects both undocumented and documented workers.
“It’s not relevant to the Department of Labor,” Youker said.
Though undocumented workers are easier to exploit, Youker said the abuse sometimes happens to U.S. citizens, too.
“You’d be surprised. A lot of times the most basic question is people don’t know what minimum wage is. We have people tell us it’s $4,” said Hector Guzman Lopez, a coordinator with the Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center.
To this end, the Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center will host three clinics in different cities to help workers understand their rights.
In Brownsville, the clinics will take place at the Brownsville Community Health Center, 191 E. Price Rd., at 6 p.m. on Thursdays. The other two clinics take place on Tuesdays in Alton and San Juan at 6 p.m.
For more information call (956) 283-5650.
