# Unpaid

> A forthcoming narrative nonfiction book about the 25-year movement led by Ai-jen Poo that produced the first Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in American history. Subtitle: *The Hidden Revolution Transforming America's Most Essential Work.*

Unpaid tells the true story of how domestic workers — nannies, housekeepers, and home care workers — organized against a deliberate 1938 exclusion from the Fair Labor Standards Act and won the first state-level Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (New York, 2010). It traces the arc from a 1996 intake form in a Chinatown storefront to a national alliance operating in all fifty states.

Key figures: Ai-jen Poo (organizer, MacArthur Fellow, founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance); Lorna Santos (Filipina care worker whose story set the movement in motion); Marina Gutierrez (Colombian domestic worker and organizer); Barbara Young (Barbadian nanny and NDWA leader).

Key dates: 1938 (FLSA exclusion), 1996 (Ai-jen Poo meets Lorna), 2000 (Domestic Workers United founded), 2007 (NDWA founded at US Social Forum), 2010 (NY Bill of Rights signed), 2019/2021 (federal Bill introduced, not yet passed).

## Page sections

- [The Premise](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#premise): Framing of the book's central question — why were 2.2 million workers deliberately excluded from basic labor protections, and who organized to change that.
- [Inside the Book](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#inside): Three-act structure — Discovery, Building the Movement, Victory & Legacy.
- [Excerpt](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#excerpt): Opening passage from the prologue.
- [Praise](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#praise): Quotes from the movement and the press.
- [The Subject](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#author): Profile of Ai-jen Poo.
- [Get Notified](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/#notify): Pre-launch email signup.

## Full content

- [Full book manuscript (markdown)](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/UNPAID_MANUSCRIPT.md): Complete narrative nonfiction manuscript, ~689 lines.
- [Full screenplay adaptation (markdown)](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/UNPAID_SCREENPLAY.md): Original screenplay, 3 acts, 21 scenes, ~1,115 lines.
- [Expanded LLM-friendly summary](https://abduljaleel.github.io/Unpaid/llms-full.txt): Longer structured description with characters, timeline, and themes.

## Supporting organizations

- [National Domestic Workers Alliance](https://domesticworkers.org): The movement's national alliance, operating in all fifty states.
- [Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network](https://domesticemployers.org): Allied employer network.
- [Damayan Migrant Workers Association](https://damayanmigrants.org): Filipino migrant domestic workers.
- [Mujeres Unidas y Activas](https://mujeresmua.org): Latina immigrant domestic workers.

## Attribution

Based on historical record, journalistic accounts, oral histories, and public testimony. Some dialogue reconstructed; some composite characters used. Names of some workers changed for privacy.