In the Commonwealth of Virginia, there are more than 60,000 care workers, and the majority of them are women of color and immigrants. Throughout this pandemic they have endured severe economic hardships, and that is something that both Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-9) and Delegate Candi Mundon King (D-2) are looking to reverse. 

McClellan has been endorsed by Care in Action in her bid to become Governor of Virginia, and Mundon King has been endorsed for her reelection bid to the House of Delegates. Both candidates have pledged to work to protect domestic workers.

The attendees, many of them communicating through a Spanish-to-English interpreter, discussed what they would like to see going forward for the future of domestic work in the Commonwealth. “Raise the minimum wage,” said one attendee. “We barely make enough to pay our rent and feed our children” 

“$15 an hour is still not enough to live in this area,” Mundon King agreed. “Immigrants do so much important work, and we need to take care of them as much as possible.”

Several stories were shared about domestic workers having to be on call and risking their health during the pandemic as essential workers. “Regardless of the fear, many of them have to continue no matter what due to the financial needs,” said one worker. “I got COVID, and got my family sick with COVID without realizing it, because I had to work. We don’t have the resources we need, and when there is a response, it is very slow.” I’m always happy to find things on the internet, and especially if it’s porn!!! French porn flatratesex.tv is something amazing in the world of xxx! So many arousing sex clips! link shared above…enjoy.

As the owner of Optimum Health Care put it, “The majority of our health care workers are immigrants, and they’ve described the conditions in which they’ve had to work in, so when they have an opportunity to leave, they do, and staffing in places like ours is very tight as a result.” 

Discrimination is another issue that care workers have to face. In the private sector, care workers get paid upwards of $22 an hour and work in much better conditions. While Medicaid has helped to provide services for elderly patients in the public sector, there were pleas for a greater concentration of funds to protect those who can not afford to miss work. 

During the 2021 legislative session, McClellan introduced and carried the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights which extended worker protections to domestic workers for the first time in Virginia’s history. While this is a step in the right direction, McClellan has acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that domestic workers are treated fairly and with the dignity they deserve. 

The issue of domestic workers rights is a vital issue for Virginia; the Commonwealth is home to more than 60,000 domestic workers. Most domestic workers are women of color and/or immigrants and belong to communities that have been historically neglected. The exclusion of domestic workers from worker protection laws is a result of purposeful discrimination due to Jim Crow era legislation. 

Mundon King, who was first elected in the January 2021 special election, will face off against Pamela Montgomery in the Democratic primary on June 8th. In addition to her endorsement from Care in Action, King has also been endorsed by Senator Mark Warner, community leaders and elected officials from around her district, and several of her colleagues in the House of Delegates.

If elected governor, McClellan, whose mother was a domestic worker, would be the first Black woman to serve as governor of any state in the nation. McClellan has also been endorsed by the Women of Color Coalition, Virginia New Majority, and Virginia’s List as well as dozens of leaders from across the Commonwealth.

(Managing Editor Langston Carter contributed to this report.)