WAGES provides a range of programs designed to create healthy, dignified work for low-income women and advance the economic and social well being for their families and communities.
WAGES works primarily with Latina immigrants to form housecleaning cooperatives that emphasize environmentally friendly cleaning techniques as a way to protect worker health and the environment, while capitalizing on a lucrative market niche. Our cooperatives aim to provide a living wage of $10-15/hour for their member-owners and return profits to the cleaners rather than to corporate owners. Workers build their individual capacity by learning business and leadership skills and gain expertise in eco-friendly cleaning. By working together to own their own businesses, women overcome the isolation and vulnerability that are typical in the housecleaning industry. To see the nuts and bolts of how WAGES forms co-ops, click here.
In the wake of the economic crisis, WAGES offers a unique pathway to economic self-reliance to a particularly vulnerable constituency and a model with promise for replication both within and beyond the Bay Area.
The present moment presents a timely opportunity for WAGES’ model to contribute to the creation of green jobs for marginalized women workers. Our cooperatives are generating wealth in local economies, and our experience is contributing to emerging efforts to advance models for responsible business, workforce, and economic development that build opportunity for those who are most in need and most invested in their communities for the long-term.