As the anti-immigrant sentiment gatherers steam across the country, lost in the debate is recognition of the crucial role played by one group of Caribbean immigrants who form the backbone of the New York economy.

They are the Caribbean immigrant nannies and domestic helpers of the Big Apple, a virtually invisible group, whose contributions go largely unheralded.

They can be found largely on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but will be seen in the more affluent areas of New York. Many dot the city’s parks – their white charges in tow – as they carry out the arduous task of rearing the next generation of Americans. Still others are hidden behind the gates of huge houses where they serve as domestic workers.

This fact again came to the fore in light of a lawsuit that alleged that, prior to becoming Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, as head of Bloomberg, LLP, allegedly made a disparaging comment about nannies to an acquaintance, who was bemoaning the lack of adequate help.

According to a lawsuit, the mayor is alleged to have said: “Just find a Black one. They will run into the fire for you; they don’t even have to speak English.”

Jamaican immigrant

To Audrey, a Jamaican immigrant, who has worked as a domestic worker, the alleged remark smacks of insensitivity: “It just shows the contempt they have for domestic workers. We are invisible,” she told The Weekly Gleaner. “They don’t see us as we take the trains to work at the start of the week, staying all week until we come home on the weekend.”

Today, most domestic workers in New York are immigrant women largely from the Caribbean and other Third World countries.

As the face of immigration has transformed the complexion of the city so has the profile of the typical nanny, who is usually a woman of color from the Caribbean or Latin America and other regions.

Their lot has never been easy, as many have been forced to toil under some of the most deplorable working conditions. Immigration status also plays a role in a worker’s treatment. Even though illegal immigrants are entitled by law to the same basic workers’ rights, as do citizens, many fear that their employers will turn them in to immigration authorities if they demand their rights and don’t comply with all their employer’s demands.

While it is difficult to say how many nannies live in, some advocates such as the lobby group Domestic Workers United estimates that some 200,000 domestic workers make it possible for their employers to go to work. Most are employed at virtually starvation wages and without much work place protection. Poor wages is but one slice of the abused pie for these workers.

Many of the domestic workers do live-in work for families in the suburbs, but increasingly, families in the more fashionable parts of the city are demanding that their domestic help live in. They know many of these workers desperately need the job and are in no position to protest.

Marcia, a nanny from the Dominican Republic, who asked that her last name not be used, knows from experience that “if you don’t have your papers they will work you to death.” It is a situation that Evelyn (not her real name), a 68-year-old undocumented immigrant from Jamaica, knows only too well.

“The last people I worked for in Brooklyn, we had an agreement that I would get $450 for a five-day week with weekends off,” Evelyn recounted to The Weekly Gleaner.

Shortchange

But soon after she started her job, she was forced to work a six-day week and her employers would constantly shortchange her by at least $100 per week.

Evelyn agrees that her undocumented status has opened her up to abuse from employers who take advantage of her. She does not have a choice because she is too terrified to make demands or go to the authorities regarding her situation.

Added to the fact that her “friend,” who recommended her for the job, demanded that she give her $100 per week, so she was left almost constantly broke after paying the rent for her modest Flatbush studio apartment.

It was an experience echoed by Audrey from Montego Bay, Jamaica.

“The mistake I made was in telling my employees that I could cook because after that they would expect three-course meals everyday. My day would start at 6:30 a.m. and not end sometimes until 11:30 pm when I would still be on my feet cleaning up,” she recounted.

But the story is not uniformly bleak for all of these domestic workers.

Veronica, from Jamaica, has worked with the same Connecticut family for the past three years and she is effusive in her praise for her employers.

“My boss and I have more of a sister relationship than an employee-employer relationship. She sponsored me to get my green card and even this summer she paid my passage to accompany her to South Africa where we vacationed for more than a week,” Veronica recounted to The Weekly Gleaner.

Still, the plight of the domestic workers has not gone unnoticed by some lawmakers. There are stirrings in the corridors of power to try to improve the working conditions of these workers.

“To me, this is a deeply personal issue,” declared New York State Assemblyman Keith Wright, the sponsor of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights that was recently introduced in both New York State legislative chambers.

Hopefully, with the help of legislators like Wright, domestic workers will not remain invisible for much longer.