New York City was this weekend the site for the first National Domestic Workers Congress, four days of workshops, meetings and a rally to demand rights for a work force that organizers describe as splintered, almost invisible, and staggeringly difficult to organize. ?Collective bargaining is not possible,? said Ai-jen Poo, an organizer with Domestic Workers United, an advocacy group for nannies, caregivers for the elderly, and housekeepers in New York. Workers usually achieve rights through strength in numbers, Ms. Poo said, banding together to pressure an individual employer to change. The conference drew about 100 women, most of them representatives from domestic workers? groups in about 10 cities.
See "Domestic Workers Organize to End an ?Atmosphere of Violence? on the Job", Carla Buckley and Annie Correal, The New York Times, June 8, 2008