Canaries in the Coal Mine: Domestic Workers and the Future of Work

Ai-jen Poo

President, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Executive Director, Caring Across Generations;

Description

Ai-jen Poo is the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, director of Caring Across Generations, and a leading voice for worker rights and dignity. And we had the pleasure of speaking with her as part of our series, “Back to the Future of Work: Revisiting the Past and Shaping the Future.”In this conversation with Economic Opportunities Program Senior Fellow Natalie Foster, Ai-jen paints the picture of an economy that domestic workers have long known: low wages, unstable employment, unfair scheduling, and few workplace protections. Domestic workers like caregivers, cleaners, and home aides routinely work in precarious conditions, often without job security, clear contracts, or basic benefits like paid sick leave.What’s changed in the last 10 years is the degree to which their experience is no longer unique. From increased automation to the rise of the gig economy, work across many industries has become more unstable, mirroring the conditions that domestic workers have faced for generations.“We saw that the conversation often overlooked workers’ experiences in favor of technology-driven narratives,” she notes. “But the real future of work is about ensuring workers — regardless of job classification — have power, rights, and dignity.” In this conversation, we explore what the past can teach us about the future — and how we can ensure that workers have a say in what comes next.

About the Authors

Ai-jen Poo

Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, executive director of Caring Across Generations and a trustee of the Ford Foundation. She recently served as a commissioner on President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Poo is a nationally recognized expert on the care economy and is the author of the celebrated book, “The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America.” She has been recognized among Fortune’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders and Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and received a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “Genius Grant.” Most recently, she received the Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award from the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.

Poo has been a featured speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Milken Institute Global Conference, TEDWomen and the Skoll World Forum. She has made appearances on PBS, “Nightline”, MSNBC and CBS; and has been a guest on popular podcasts such as “On Being with Krista Tippett,” “We Can Do Hard Things” and “The Ezra Klein Show.” Poo earned a bachelor of arts in women’s and gender studies at Columbia University and holds honorary degrees from CUNY and The New School.

Natalie Foster

Natalie Foster is a senior fellow with the Aspen Institute’s Future of Work Initiative, the author of the new book, “The Guarantee” (April 2024, The New Press), and is president and co-founder of the Economic Security Project.

Foster is a leading architect of the movement to build an inclusive and resilient economy that works for all. President and co-founder of Economic Security Project and Aspen Institute Fellow, her work and writing has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, TIME, Business Insider, CNN, and The Guardian. Natalie speaks regularly on economic security, the future of work, and the new political economy.

An unstoppable builder, Natalie previously founded the sharing economy community Peers, co-founded Rebuild the Dream with Van Jones, and served as digital director for President Obama’s Organizing for America, a leading partner in winning transformative health care reform. A daughter of a preacher from Kansas, Natalie draws on the values of community, dignity, and optimism to build a better America. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and two kids. “The Guarantee” is her first book.