National Domestic Workers Alliance Union Members Vote 93% to Authorize Strike Amid Retaliatory, Inhumane Layoffs

November 17, 2025

New York, N.Y. – Union workers at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1180, announced today that an overwhelming majority of union members have authorized a strike in response to abrupt, retaliatory layoffs and bad-faith bargaining by NDWA leadership. With 95 percent participation, the union has voted to authorize a strike with a 93 percent YES vote.

Union members emphasize that they love NDWA and its mission and are taking this step to protect the organization, not harm it. Their concerns predate the layoff announcement and stem from what they describe as gross mismanagement of funds and a top-heavy leadership structure that has insulated executives while placing the burden of a financial crisis on frontline, union staff.

On September 17, NDWA management announced that 28 union staff members would be laid off — about one in three positions in the bargaining unit — after giving union leadership less than an hour’s notice. Management had known for months that major funding was uncertain but pushed forward with rapid expansion, expensive consultants performing work union members could do, and a budgeted multimillion-dollar 2025 assembly. 

The layoffs disproportionately target union staff, shrinking the union from the time of its founding in 2022 at 66% to a proposed 55% and gutting key chapters and programs. The layoff would radically alter services of the organization. In New York, NDWA’s home base and the birthplace of the first Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, all Spanish-speaking staff are slated for layoff, raising urgent questions about where Spanish-speaking domestic workers will go when they face wage theft or violations of their rights. The South Bay chapter and Care in Action’s Arizona and Nevada programs are also being gutted. Among those impacted are workers with disabilities and a staff member on maternity leave, in direct contradiction with the organization’s stated commitment to care.

While union staff are being cut, NDWA leadership has refused to commit to freezing or eliminating high-paid, non-union positions and is still planning or considering roles such as a Senior Creative Director (up to $144,000), a Legal Counsel (around $120,000), and a Chief Advancement Officer (around $200,000). Union members argue that this is not shared sacrifice but a political choice about whose work is valued and whose is disposable.

“We are NDWA, and we are willing to strike because we want this organization to survive and to be worthy of the workers it was built to serve,” said Summer Kim, an impacted staff member and member of the NDWA Staff Union Bargaining Committee. “The organization intends to lay off organizers who have been domestic workers’ main touch points for a decade, union members who have spoken out against racist mistreatment, and staff who have built this organization from the ground up. At the same time, NDWA insulates highly paid leadership who can’t name a single domestic worker member. NDWA is a labor rights organization that publicly advocates against the very same treatment our union members have endured. Domestic workers deserve an organization that practices the values it preaches — and that starts with treating its own staff fairly.”

The layoff process itself has deepened mistrust. Management sent layoff notices to union staff before an agreement on process was finalized, leaving workers in limbo for nearly two weeks and, in some cases, receiving multiple conflicting emails. Union members describe the process as careless and cruel, out of step with NDWA’s identity as a labor and care organization.

On November 11, after weeks of bargaining and union actions, NDWA management offered to reduce the number of union layoffs by only five positions in exchange for sweeping concessions that would weaken the union and make it easier to repeat this crisis. The proposal included eliminating cost-of-living adjustments for multiple years, weakening compensatory time, weakening collective action, shortening grievance timelines, and changing layoff language to give management more power. 

Union members characterize this as punitive and insulting, especially given management’s refusal to commit to freezing new high-paid out-of-unit hires or preserving a strong majority of union staff.

Union members stress that this crisis is unfolding in a political moment when domestic workers need more support, not less. Home care workers are already facing Department of Labor rule rollbacks that strip overtime and minimum wage protections, Medicaid cuts and reduced public benefits are hitting domestic workers’ families on the edge of poverty, and increased immigration enforcement is terrorizing the communities NDWA serves. Staff say that cutting frontline organizers and Spanish-speaking roles while preserving and expanding a top-heavy leadership structure is exactly the wrong choice in this moment.

“CWA Local 1180 and our members are strongly urging NDWA management to hear our concerns and engage in an open, productive conversation about how to save these jobs. Our members contribute tremendous value to this organization, and there is no justification for letting the number of members targeted to be let go while hiring at the same time nonunion staff. We expect NDWA to come to the table in good faith and work with us toward a fair and responsible solution,” said Gloria Middleton, president of CWA Local 1180.

Union members are clear that a strike remains a last resort and that their goal is to reach an agreement and contract that preserves NDWA’s mission and ensures the organization can continue to fight for domestic workers with integrity and strength.

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