Formalizing the Informal
This chapter examines the informal economy of Filipina care workers in southern California, with particular emphasis on their pragmatic and survival consciousness that enables them to perform skilled work and at the same time negotiate the meaning of this work for themselves as well as the material and familial realities of their lives. Cultivating this pragmatic and survival consciousness among Filipino caregivers is central to the work of the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), a low-wage, worker-based, grassroots social justice organization that primarily serves Los Angeles's low-income Filipino community. The chapter discusses the PWC's campaign called Caregivers Organizing for Unity, Respect, and Genuine Empowerment (COURAGE), which seeks to address the many needs of the Filipino caregivers. It also considers the Homecare Workers Cooperative (the COURAGE Co-Op) that aims to offer its employees (primarily low-income Filipino immigrant caregivers) living wages and health benefits, improve working conditions, bring home-care workers out of isolation, and connect them to a larger community.