---

Aurelia Aguilar
​

Aurelia Aguilar is an Illinois domestic worker from Guatemala and member of Latino Union, who has been active in advocating for domestic worker rights. She has had her own share of negative experiences on the job, including having to clean entire houses without guarantee she’ll be paid for her services, and working for employers who would not allow lunchbreak or even a glass of water during a 9 hour shift. She celebrates the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights because domestic workers deserve basic employment protections like the right to be paid for all worked hours.

​

---

Maria Esther Bolaños

Maria Esther Bolaños is a domestic worker and member of the Latino Union. Having worked hard to provide for her family, she has taken on jobs that pay as little as $4 an hour, barely enough to make ends meet. As a nanny, she has even had to pay for the food of the children she cared for out of pocket, losing money that would feed her own family in the process. She travelled to Springfield to advocate on behalf of The Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, and is proud to be a part of the movement to bring respect and dignity to thousands of Illinois domestic workers like her.

​

---

Isabel Escobar Mendez

Isabel Mendez is on the Board of Directors at Arise Chicago. She first came to Arise after being fired as a domestic worker, and owed $10,000 in unpaid wages. In addition to leading her own wage theft campaign, which included delegations and press conferences, Isabel has traveled to Springfield multiple times to advocate for an increase in state minimum wage and for passage of the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. Had the Bill of Rights been in place at the time of Isabel’s case, she would have had an avenue of state support to help recover her stolen wages.

​

---

Magdalena Zylinski
​

Magdalena Zylinska is a domestic worker from Poland and a Board Member of Arise Chicago. To support her family, she has gone to work on days she was sick and even the day after a car accident. She first came to Arise for a green cleaning training and after learning that domestic workers like herself were excluded from basic labor protections, she began to campaign for the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. She has traveled to Springfield numerous times, and to Washington D.C. advocating for the rights for domestic workers. Today, she is training as an organizer to help grow the movement.

​

---

The Domestic Workers Coalition passed a Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights in Illinois to ensure that domestic workers - those who care for our homes, our children, the disabled, and the elderly - are given the respect, dignity, and protection they deserve as equal members of our state's workforce.