Amid COVID-19, Miami-Dade Domestic Workers Say Biggest Concern Is Making Rent
By David Pina and Nadege Green
A recent survey published by the National Domestic Workers Alliance found 55 percent of domestic workers were unable to pay their rent in April. Seventy-seven percent said they were worried about eviction. Domestic workers, who are predominantly women of color and immigrants, have seen their work dwindle or come to a complete halt as clients weigh the risks of having someone in their home.
In Miami-Dade County, where housing for low wage earners was already hard to come by pre-pandemic, one of the main concerns expressed by housekeepers is the ability to make enough to pay their rent. In interviews, workers also expressed fear of being exposed to the virus while in their client’s home and being overworked when they do show up for jobs during the pandemic.
The Miami Workers Center, a nonprofit that builds the collective strength of low-income people of color including domestic workers, is urging the state of Florida to adopt the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. The bill provides domestic workers with overtime pay, paid sick days and harassment and discrimination protections.
We interviewed three Miami domestic workers who are also Miami Workers Center members about how they’re doing during this pandemic. These are their stories:
Bernardita, Little Havana
I am a domestic worker. We only imagined this would be a few months. No one imagined the magnitude of the pandemic and so nobody was prepared for the economic impact that has affected us so much.
I am living with what the government has helped me with, with the $1,200 they gave me. That has helped me out a lot to pay rent. I pay it late and a little bit at a time.
The owner is a corporation, but because a lot of older people live here they gave people relief without a late fee. We’re paying a bit at a time, but we are paying.
I’ve worked more than 20 years as a domestic worker. I mostly do laundry and ironing. In some of the houses I have been there for more than 10 years. Since COVID, they haven’t asked me to work.
The two people I do laundry for, before they used to call every week, but now I’ve only gone three or four times. Just waiting for this to pass so my schedule can be normalized.
Last week, I worked one day. This week I’ll be working one day. The following week, I don’t know if I’ll have work. Nowadays they’re piling up bigger loads of laundry. They pile up fifteen to twenty days worth of laundry for one day. I do double the work, but they pay me the same. It also doesn’t make sense to do it this way because the volume of the work that they make me do is bigger, so instead they are squeezing me. The work they’re asking me to do is two weeks’ worth of work and they want it done in one day. I can’t do this either.
My daughter lives in Chile. I try to send money to her when I can. Right now, I can’t, but when I can, I do. I love my family.
What I would like the most is to not have debt and to be able to pay for my rent. The only thing that worries me is my housing.
Please, forgive us the rent. Just to forgive us for two or three payments. Not a payment plan, not late fees because then we’ll still have the debt. Minimum two months.
This happened to us. We didn’t do this. No one could have predicted this. This pandemic exceeded our expectations. We thought one month quarantine and then it’d be fine. I don’t see a way out of this, this won’t end next month. Please find it in your hearts to help us and help us low-income people— and even help the owners of the properties because they also have to pay.
Abdelia, Allapattah
I was two months without work because obviously no one wanted you to go to clean their house.
This week one of my bosses told me that she doesn’t know if I can keep working because there’s a case of the virus in the building so she’s really afraid; it’s true, people are really afraid. I use my mask, I take my gloves— I don’t do it for other people, I do it for me and my family because I live with my mom who’s an older person and my son who’s two. I’m the head of the household and obviously it’s up to me to go out and to figure out how to make do.
I’ve been looking for ways to find places to work as a cleaner. For now, I have a few secure jobs, but with all this with COVID everything’s so unstable.
For me, the public transportation in Miami doesn’t work. I don’t know who works on that, the governor, the mayor, but transportation in this city, to me— who walks— it doesn’t work. Transportation is a business here. Since they’re only selling cars, they’re not thinking of the people who don’t have the options to have a car so they don’t care if public transportation isn’t a viable option.
I was without a way to buy food because I didn’t request food stamps or anything like that like WIC because I’m in a process of immigration with a family petition and the agency told me if you ask for food stamps you’re going to hurt your immigration process. So I had to stop asking for food stamps so I don’t hurt that process even though I still need them.
But in this moment that my food has been affected, my church has been able to send me food because I don’t have a car. That’s another thing. They’re distributing food, but they want the people without cars to get there in cars. It’s something illogical.
Thank God at least my church group helped me and brought me food and gave me at least enough to pay utilities during the time I had no job. And then it occurred to me that in the middle of this pandemic you could request food stamps without being affected and so I started getting them again in May. It was really difficult to contact services to get what you need.
And the part I can’t leave out, sorry, is the part of the rent. For me, for example, they told me they were going to evict me. They sent me a notice that in three days if I didn’t pay $2,000, almost $3,000 in three days they were going to throw me on the street. I was surprised, it bothered me, I wanted to speak to the manager because I said that can’t be the right process for what we’re living through. If I was irresponsible and it was another time then I would guess that they could maybe kick me out of here. But in this case, that we’re in this global situation, for a landlord to come and tell me in three days you’re out, I mean that doesn’t make sense.
So what I did from there was go to Miami Workers Center to ask what I could do. They guided me, but as I got legal help, the next day the manager explained to me that, no they weren’t going to kick me out. That what happened was that courts were closed, that they were just notifying me. But a notification that you have to pay $3,000 or, “ We’re going to kick you out in three days” is something else.
I let her talk and thank God I was able to make an arrangement.
[Lawmakers] they’re not thinking about the community. They’re only thinking of the people with a certain status. I called a number for a legislator, most of them don’t respond. Like a typical politician, they talk and they talk but they don’t do anything when people need something.
Urania, Miami-Dade
I think that all of the people who work cleaning houses have been affected because often the bosses don’t want people coming in and out because we could contaminate them with the virus. Some are asking for some days and some don’t want me at all.
For me I had two days, now I only have one and this affects me because they want you to do everything in one day and only pay you for one day. It’s a lot more work and it affects me physically. The situation is very hard, nobody has work, and nobody is looking to hire. We work double, and get less salary. We don’t have enough to pay for our basic necessities. One day I have to wash, clean and if people have pets, taking care of the pets. I end up having to do it even if it’s not my responsibility.
I’m also scared to go clean. I know I can also get sick from going there because I don’t know if they have parties or what when I’m not there.
This week I’ve been a bit depressed because I’m not feeling well. Not COVID related, just depressed. I hope this goes by fast and things go back to normal. I am healthy right now, but you get affected and then you get depressed. The advantage I have is that I believe in God and he’s my strength.
I have three kids, but they live in Nicaragua. I have lived here for seven years and I’m the one that supports them. There it’s also difficult. In addition to COVID there’s the political conflict, it’s very hard for me. I came here with my husband and then I suffered domestic violence. He hit me and then he left to Nicaragua. He left because he hit me.
In Nicaragua, my brothers have helped me with my kids because I always help, but I don’t have a job so even if I want, I can’t.
Some of my friends know that I do alterations— I fix pants and it’s not a lot, but it helps me with some costs. Friends will call and ask me if I can fix a dress, pants, you know, whatever, but it’s something.
[My rent] I’m not like months behind, but I definitely haven’t been able to pay on the first week, it’s very hard.
Every month [my landlord] she asks me when am I going to pay, and what date and she hasn’t been rude, but when she asks and you are trying to figure it out it makes me feel bad….because if I had the money I would pay it, it is an uncomfortable situation.
I know I have to find my money for the rent. I’ve had to pawn some of my jewelry items to get some money. My friend…she also lends me money and I pay her once I get paid. I honestly don’t know how long I can be like this. If my country was doing better and this wasn’t going on I’d be back in Nicaragua right away. But there are a lot of things there that are still worrying me because the COVID there and the president in Nicaragua doesn’t admit that it’s happening and the political situation and pollution, but I really thought things would get better here.
I know that maybe I didn’t come into this country the right way, but because of the conditions in my country I had to do it, and even then, I support this place by working and helping people who are citizens and residents and we also deserve help because we are also dealing with a lot and struggling.
WeCount, another Miami-Dade non-profit that works with domestic workers is urging the county to implement immediate policies to protect domestic workers during COVID-19. That includes invoking emergency powers to issue mandatory rules for employers of domestic and household workers that require them to provide mandatory PPE, hand sanitizer stations, social distancing protocols, and fair care guidelines.
Local domestic worker organizations are asking for the federal government, the state of Florida and local municipalities to provide direct economic relief, including emergency rental and utility assistance to domestic workers and all low-wage workers regardless of immigration status.
For more information on Miami Workers Center visit theworkerscenter.org For more information on WeCount visit we-count.org
David Pina is a law student at Harvard Law School. He was raised in Miami and hopes to aid local movements for racial justice.
Nadege Green is the director of Community Research and Storytelling for the Community Justice Project. Community Justice Project supports grassroots organizing for power, racial justice and human rights with innovative lawyering, research and creative strategy tools. Based in Miami, FL, Community Justice Project is deeply and unapologetically committed to Black and brown communities throughout Florida.
