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Shuktara Lal
New York

WHEN Nahar Alam left Bangladesh in 1993 to start a new life in the United States little did she know how nightmarish pursuing the American dream would be. A victim of domestic violence, she wanted to leave behind her painful past when she came to the US. Nahar had heard that families from the Indian sub-continent looked for housekeepers coming from the same area. So, Nahar secured her first job in the household of a Gujarati family. “I would work continuously everyday, and I was paid only $50 a week,” she says. Nahar’s next job was no different: “I was cooking, cleaning the house and looking after a disabled man. My employers did not seem to care that they were taking advantage of me.” Being overworked and underpaid were only two of the problems Nahar had to face. “When I made international calls using my employers’ phone, they would deduct the calling charges from my salary. But there was a time when they asked me to pay the phone bill as well, even though they had made the agreed-upon cut in my payment. Later, they said it had been a misunderstanding, but I began to feel like they had no respect for my rights as an employee.

It was as if they disregarded the fact that I was also a person.” Refusing to bow down to the whims and fancies of her employers, Nahar co-founded Working Hours – an organisation that sought to protect the rights of the ever-increasing number of immigrant South Asian housekeepers and babysitters. In 1998, seeking to expand the reach of this association, she, along with other low-income South Asian workers started Andolan – a nonprofit agency that educates low-wage workers about their rights, dialogues with employers so that they understand the need to pay their employees better salaries, and throws light on abusive work conditions. Nahar is presently the director of Andolan. The greater majority of jobs available for low-income South Asian immigrants are in domestic work, restaurants and retail stores. Nahar says, “Thousands of such workers enter the US yearly and work in the New York City area.”While orkers are from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, ironically,their employers also are mostly from these countries. However, common roots and shared national identity have not helped much. Apart from being given remuneration that falls short of federal and state minimum wage laws, workers have been sexually harassed, assaulted, imprisoned on false charges and have had their passports confiscated by their employers. Andolan counters these abuses at various levels. One of the most successful methods deployed by Andolan has been to take abrasive employers to court. “The lawyers who take on our cases do not charge usfor their services. College and university students often do volunteer work for us; they contact their institute professors when weneed legal advice,”explains Nahar.

The association takes pride in a case it won concerning an Indian immigrant domestic worker named Zarina. A woman in her sixties, Zarina had been mistreated by her employers. She was paid less than $2 an hour (far below the minimum wage requirement) and worked 70-80 hours a week. When she broke her hand while working, she was denied permission to obtain medical treatment. After taking legal action against her employer, she was awarded $94,000 – the highest amount a domestic worker has ever been compensated with, making her case a point of reference for subsequent domestic worker lawsuits. Another legal battle contested by Andolan, which created waves in the media, involved a diplomat at the Kuwaiti mission to the United Nations. The Indian woman who worked for him accused him of forcing her to work for 14 hours a day, taking possession of her passport and raping her. Andolan has received several complaints from domestic workers against diplomats, but has found it far more difficult to legally challenge the latter because of their diplomatic immunity. A case filed against a diplomat from Bahrain was finally settled out of court. At present, Andolan has launched a campaign protesting the immunity of diplomats.

Apart form legal support, Andolan organises demonstrations to generate public awareness in front of work establishments and private households where the rights of employees have been violated. Since all the members of Andolan are low-wage immigrant workers, they are able to use their contacts to find other low-income employees and tell them that they do have certain rights under New York legislation, irrespective of their immigrant status. Andolan also invites health care professionals to speak about important health concerns to its members. Currently, it has tied up with the American Cancer Society which provides free mammograms to individuals. Nearly all the members of Andolan are women. Confident and self-assured, they exemplify a fundamental objective of the organisation –empowering disadvantaged immigrants in the city.

The members are always ready to share their stories. Mukta Begum, who used to work as a waitress 10 hours a day at a Bangladeshi restaurant, would earn only $25 per day. Then, there is Asma. While working as a babysitter, Asma was hit by the mother of the child she was taking care of, and her jewellery and passport were taken away. Asma has filed a case against her employers. Mukta and Asma’s experiences comprise just two accounts in a script with multiple narrators. Each of the Andolan members has confronted linguistic, cultural and professional obstacles. For an Indian visiting the Andolan office, the surrounding area seems very Indian. Located in Queens in an area known as Jackson Heights where residents are largely South Asian, the office of Andolan fits in neatly with its vibrant surroundings. Andolan members are relaxed and at ease here, indicating the fulfillment of a goal that has run parallel to the agency’s other objectives– enabling people to feel at home in a foreign country.