Seder Gives Voice to Domestic Workers

Domestic workers were the focus of the Labor Seder Wednesday night in the annual celebration of struggle organized by Jews United for Justice. Nearly 200 activists gathered at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, MD at the 6th annual event, which this year brought forth the stories of domestic workers, mostly immigrant women who lack the most basic protections and rights at work. Choking back tears as she spoke softly in Spanish, Antonia Pena related stories of area domestic workers kept virtual prisoners in their employer’s homes, forbidden to use the telephone, to go to church, paid a few hundred dollars a month and threatened with deportation if they complained. The seder, a Jewish tradition which explores the history of resistance to oppression, connected ongoing local efforts by domestic and hotel workers to a long history of struggles for justice stretching back to Biblical times. Domestic worker Herminia Servat, a Peruvian immigrant, joined by AVODAH’s Jevera Temsky and Rabbi Gerry Serotta (who led the seder), updated the traditional ten plagues of Egypt to include “Low wages, inadequate health care, insecurity, unsafe working conditions, discrimination and voicelessness.” Added Pena, thanking seder attendees for the chance to speak out, “It’s not just the physical and financial problems, it’s the psychological abuse” of rights denied. In another highlight of the evening, Northern Virginia hotel workers who spoke at last year’s seder about their fight to organize returned this year to announce that they are now members of UNITE HERE. Calling DC “a Pharaoh’s land where 500,000 residents have no right to representation,” Metro Council President Jos Williams linked the fight for DC Voting Rights to the other struggles. The evening concluded with attendees writing letters supporting Domestic Workers Bill of Rights legislation in Montgomery County and the traditional spirited rendition of “Solidarity Forever.” The seder was co-hosted by the Greater Washington Jewish labor Committee, CASA of Maryland, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Metro Washington Council, AVODAH, Temple Shalom, Ameinu, DC Jobs with Justice, UNITE HERE Local 25, SEIU Local 32 BJ, the DC Employment Justice Center, UFCW Local 400, American Rights at Work and the UNITE HERE Mid-Atlantic Joint Board.
- report/photos by Chris Garlock