[Argentina] We’re your feminist domestic workers and we’re ready to fight!

The statement below is from the independent group Trabajadorxs Organizadxs de Casas Particulares (Organised Workers in Private Homes). One of our FORA comrades is also involved with it. The group seeks to rid the sector of patriarchy and precariousness. This is a whole area of the economy that has been mostly abandoned by mainstream unions, as it doesn’t yield for them the same amount of money as other sectors. It is dominated by labour insecurity, as most workers don’t even have a contract. We refer to sectors like this as “precarious labour”, precisely those that we aim to organise.

In the text, the term “glitter feminism” is used to refer to liberal feminism, as opposed to working-class feminism. We can also talk of “whitewash feminism” vs “anarcho-feminism”, which we subscribe.

We’re your feminist domestic workers and we’re ready to fight!

That’s the name of our Facebook page. It may not represent us entirely, though. We’re here to tell our feminist comrades that we are neither domestic nor domesticated workers, but organized workers in private homes. We are also here to make our struggle visible. It is an anti-capitalist fight, against patriarchy and against “glitter feminism”. This type of feminists are out in the streets demanding the legalisation of abortion, while at the same time they keep someone working in the house without a contract and being constantly depersonalized.

In the homes where we work, we are often treated as things. There have been many instances in which our fellow workers have told us of not being allowed a simple glass of water! Quite often, we’re referred to as the “girl helping at home”, which denies us (in one single stroke) our rights as workers.

This is something we’ve grown used to. Unfortunately, there’s no union defending us. Much on the contrary, we have been brushed aside by a union bureaucracy that does not represent any worker in this sector. Hyper-precariousness and lack of contracts are endemic, and nothing is being done or talked about it. And the state is one of the main culprits. It “negotiates” our wages and conditions without any input from us. We are therefore left unprotected and without labour rights. That is why this March 8 and 9 we’re going to strike. We’re demanding our rights as workers and to be recognised as such, as we engage in reproductive labour. We know all too well that behind sentences like “you’re part of the family” lurks the denial of labour rights and many other benefits that come with a contract.

We don’t want to be part of that 80% of domestic workers without a contract, but neither of that 20% with an unlawful contract. We want our work to be recognised and valued as much as anyone else’s. That’s why, feminist comrade, we’re telling you, when you raise your fist with a green handkerchief on your wrist to demand reproductive rights and when you talk about “sorority”, that SORORITY IS SIGNING A LEGAL CONTRACT WITH YOUR WORKER. It is valuing her work, understanding where she comes from and, above everything else, knowing who she is.

Trabajadorxs Organizadxs de Casas Particulares (Organised Workers in Private Homes). (T.O.C.P)