And here in New York, domestic workers marched on Saturday to call for state lawmakers to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. This bill would set a minimum wage of $12 for caregivers, and require employers to provide health insurance or pay an additional $2 an hour. It would also guarantee days off, vacation time and other worker standards.

Carolyn de Leon, from the group Domestic Workers United: “We are completely [inaudible] about the abuse and unsure whether we’re going to have a job from week to week. This must stop. Two hundred thousand of us support families here and abroad, and we need to be protected. We need job security. We need healthcare. We need overtime pay. And most of all, we need our labor to be respected and recognized, so that slavery once and for all will be abolished.”

Saturday’s march came a month after federal prosecutors arrested a Long Island couple for essentially enslaving their domestic workers.