Dear Supporter,

On Oscar night February 26th, will you and your home #BeTheHelp for America’s domestic workers? All you need is some friends, a TV and a big heart.

That night, the world will be watching to see if the acclaimed film The Help — which brought the lives and struggles of domestic workers to an international film audience — will receive Hollywood's highest honor. Together in living rooms across the country, #BeTheHelp supporters will make a difference for today’s domestic workers. At these special #BeTheHelp Oscar Night Viewing Parties, we will share real-life stories like these:

Because domestic work is not in the labor codes, I can't prove that I do a job and offer a service...I don't have health care, vacations, or sick days. In New York they won a Bill of Rights to protect the rights of domestic workers. But in California, we don't yet have any law like this. And that makes our work invisible — a job that exists but isn't seen and what isn't seen has no value, no value of any kind. — María Fernández, Domestic worker and leader at La Colectiva

“I am an employer of an incredible domestic worker — a mother, like myself, who works to provide for her family. Without question, the work she does — help care for my children and home — helps make my work possible. The difference is, the essential work she and millions of other domestic workers provide is woefully undervalued in our laws and virtually invisible to public consciousness. I’ve felt compelled to stand alongside her and fight to ensure domestic work is treated with the same level of respect and fair treatment as other forms of labor.” – Dina Bakst, employer and leader at Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Association

Maria and America’s 2.5 million domestic workers are currently excluded from basic protections that most other workers have like minimum wage, workers compensation and overtime pay. At these special Oscar viewing parties we will urge the California state legislature to have a heart like Dina and enact the history-making CA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (AB 899). If it is passed, it will create better working conditions for all of the state’s domestic workers and send a powerful national message about the need for federal regulations.

Your house. Your friends. Your stories. Your hearts. Together we can give “Oscar night history” a whole new meaning.

Will you join us and host a #BeTheHelp Oscar Night Viewing Party?

Ai-jen Poo
Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

P.S. Be sure to check out the special “how to” guide we have prepared to make hosting a party even easier!

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