Jerry Brown vetoes domestic workers bill of rights
on October 1, 2012
The California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday.
The bill, designed for workers who act as babysitters and homecare providers, would have mandated rest and meal breaks and overtime pay to domestic workers in California, making it the second state in the country after New York to do so.
“It was a big betrayal,” an angry-sounding Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, one of the bill’s co-authors, said in a phone interview Monday. “Maybe he lived an entitled upbringing,” Ammiano said, referring to Brown. “He should be able to step back and see the situation that these people are involved in — with no protection.”
In order to simplify the bill and clarify that the workers were to be included as part of the labor force, the final version was stripped of any specific regulations. The Department of Industrial Relations would have been responsible for specifying when workers would take breaks, time off and receive overtime.
Gov. Brown said the bill was a “noble endeavor” to help improve the circumstances of domestic workers, however, the bill raised some unanswered questions.
“What will be the economic and human impact on the disabled or elderly person and their family of requiring overtime, rest and meal periods for attendants who provide 24 hour care?” Brown stated in his veto message. “What will be the additional costs and what is the financial capacity of those taking care of loved ones in the last years of life?”
Ammiano and domestic workers in the area will continue to lobby for changes to the labor laws governing their work, which includes campaigning to ensure that employers are aware of their responsibilities to provide a just and safe workplace for their employees.
“We just feel very betrayed,” said Andrea Mercado, political director of Mujeres Unidas y Activas, an organization with offices in San Francisco and Oakland that focuses on issues related to Latina immigrant women like immigration laws, workers’ rights and social services. “Big movements create the context for great acts of leadership. We had the opportunity to lead the state and to lead the nation, and Governor Brown made the unfortunate decision not to.”
Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.
Oakland North
Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.
