Pandemic Shock Absorbers: Domestic Workers’ Activism at the Intersection of Immigrants’ and Workers’ Rights

During the current global pandemic, when the family or household has been considered the most basic unit of quarantine, the role of the domestic worker – someone who by definition crosses the threshold and enters the space of the home – became problematised quickly. These workers’ ‘outsider’ status – transgressing the boundaries not just of the physical household space, but often also of race, immigration status, and class – has meant that some household workers were more readily regarded as disease vectors who were too risky to allow into the home and let go with little or no warning. In the United States, many of the federal and state relief bills responding to the pandemic continue to exclude the sector or undocumented immigrant workers or both from accessing relief measures. Drawing on an online ethnography of organisations and policy reviews, we analyse the multilevel response of domestic workers’ organisations to address the crisis at both the federal and local levels, with focus on the state of Massachusetts. This chapter tackles the variety of ways in which worker centres in the United States have been at the frontline of the response to domestic workers’ needs, addressing a gap in mainstream and otherwise insufficient relief measures provided by the government. Because of these gaps and the sheer level of need faced by these workers and their families, these centres did what they were prepared to do: continue the service provision, education, organising, and advocacy efforts while expanding their efforts in each of these areas of work.