Neira Ortega said she left Oaxaca, Mexico, 15 years ago for a better life in California. She said she didn't realize she would end up a virtual prisoner in her employer's Chula Vista home.
"I had to go to work Sunday night and work until Friday night for $60 a week," Ortega said Monday at a Capitol rally. "I wasn't allowed to leave the house to buy my own food. I had to eat canned food. I couldn't go to take classes."
Ortega, 40, told her story to about 400 people, many of them domestic workers, who gathered at the Capitol to celebrate California's 16th annual Immigrant Day.
They rallied for the rights of domestic workers, better health care for older immigrants, protections for children whose parents have been deported and half a dozen another pending bills that would affect life for California's immigrant workers.
"Immigrants make up 40 percent of California's population and a third of our workforce, close to 8 million people," said Aparna Shah, director of Mobilize the Immigrant Vote.
Given their numbers, Shah said, the state should ensure immigrants are afforded the same rights and protections as all Californians.
Ortega now cleans houses in Livermore for about $90 a week. But she and other domestic workers were excluded from the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act that guaranteed other workers overtime pay, and meal and rest breaks, said Andrea Mercado, organizer for the Bay Area-based Mujeres Unidas y Activas.
Among the bills touted at the rally was Assembly Bill 889, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, which would extend similar protections to California's 200,000 domestic workers, nannies and caregivers. AB 889 would guarantee domestic workers 30-minute meal breaks after five hours of work, 10-minute rest breaks after four hours of work, eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for live-in workers, free kitchen privileges for those who work more than five hours, overtime pay and worker's compensation.
"California's great because of the sweat of many people – they clean your toilets, babysit your children," Ammiano told the crowd. "We want an end to the servitude. They have a right not be held prisoner, not to be underpaid or mistreated."
AB 889 cleared the Assembly last year and has been stalled in the Senate since August. It is opposed by AARP, nanny agencies, the California Chamber of Commerce and Disability Rights California, among other groups. Opponents argue the bill would increase costs for people who can least afford it: frail seniors, people with disabilities and working families.
About 367,000 of the Sacramento region's residents were born outside the United States, a figure that grew by 40 percent in the last decade. Asian immigrants make up the largest group, followed by those from Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Statewide, 10.2 million Californians were born outside the United States, more than one of every four of the state's residents.
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Source: www.sacbee.com
California: sunshine and star-spotting in Surf City - Daily Telegraph
The beach is the centre of life here – a wide, deep stretch of blond sand, edged with a cycle path, pounded by surf and bathed in that wonderful breezy, heart-lifting California light. It's swept and groomed every night – and by day bronzed lifeguards stare out, square-jawed, from their huts on stilts. All life is here, especially on the busy beaches around the pier: cyclists, volleyballers, joggers, surfers and, of course, dogs. The beach is backed by the palm-tree-lined Pacific Highway, and each time the lights change at the crossing for Dog Beach – the stretch reserved for canine beachcombing – a posse of poodles, Labradors and pugs on leads storms noisily across. It's not unusual to see dogs skimming the waves on surfboards – and I have to say they managed it rather better than we did.
If you think you have cracked Cornish surf, the waves at Huntington Beach are something else. "The conditions are a little testing today," said our cool-dude instructor, who arrived for our lesson on the crest of a wave.
"Really, these waves are not easy," he repeated kindly some half an hour later as I emerged from yet another cold wash fast-spin and called it a day. Even my husband and sons – who rather fancied themselves on a surfboard – kept rolling in like upturned beetles.
We did better at paddle boarding – a cross between surfing and punting – but only because we were on the canal-like backwaters of nearby Huntington Harbour. And we had a lot of fun riding across the beach and along the water's edge on a Segway, which is rather like travelling on a pogo stick with wheels. But best of all was our bike ride down the beachside cycle path to Newport Beach, picking our favourite millionaire bolt-holes as we went, breeze in our hair, the sun sparkling on the water.
The cycle paths are one of the great joys of this stretch of southern California – as we found when we moved up the coast to Santa Monica, our base in Los Angeles. LA is really a series of villages, and Santa Monica is one of the most attractive and approachable. Its wide, peaceful roads, lined with pretty houses and soaring palms, lead down to cliff-top gardens and, below them, more of that dazzling golden sand. It all feels very safe – in fact, the greatest threat is being mown down by a zealous jogger. Borrowing bikes from our hotel, the stylish and civilised Oceana, we pedalled past the trapeze school and carousels on Santa Monica pier, past the prophets and bodybuilders, to Venice Beach, where stalls were selling all sorts of hippie gear, from feather headdresses to tarot cards and peace-slogan T-shirts.
There was rather smarter shopping round the corner from our hotel, in chic Montana Avenue, where we breakfasted at the quirky Marmalade Café with an eclectic crowd of locals. It didn't include any of the neighbourhood celebrities – such as Marcia Cross (Bree from Desperate Housewives), but we saw enough stardom for a lifetime on our two-hour open-top minibus tour of the movie stars' homes in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air. "The secret of celebrity-spotting is to look for black Range Rovers," said our driver, who showed all the zeal of a safari guide tracking lion. "We had a sighting of Orlando Bloom a couple of days ago," he announced proudly. "He gave us a wave and a smile."
We were shown the spot where Hugh Grant was arrested with Divine Brown, saw the Osbournes' house (later, so our driver said, bought by Christina Aguilera) and cruised down Rodeo Drive. We drove high among the canyons and pines of the Hollywood hills for a bird's-eye view of the city and the famous Hollywood sign (rebuilt with celebrity donations after termites ate the wooden original) and lurked in the road outside the Beckhams' home and, rather morbidly, the house where Michael Jackson died.
The most exciting moment was seeing someone exercising in Johnny Depp's garage – but it was "probably just his carpenter", according to our omniscient guide. By the end, I felt bloated with celebrity – as though I'd read 50 copies of Hello magazine back to back – but it was a great way to see the most glamorous bits of the city.
Other trips from LA, for my sons at least, included a visit to the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. This, along with surfing and "not too many museums", had been part of the family holiday contract, and the park more than lived up to their expectations. "It just dwarfs the UK parks," was their verdict, "really good rides without all the hype."
My husband and I retreated to the blissfully cool hilltop campus of the Getty Center nearby, and wandered through the gardens and galleries, glimpsing just a fraction of the collections of American and European art and photography.
Next, we eased our way north up the coast to the lovely old mission town of Santa Barbara, where the highlights were kayaking among sea lions in the harbour and riding at Rancho Oso, in the foothills and river valleys of Los Padres National Forest. Inland California proved every bit as beautiful as the coast, as we rode among flowery meadows and groves of oak, silver willows and cottonwood trees.
From there on, I have to draw a misty veil over the rest of the trip. Our final highlight was to have been a drive along the dramatic Big Sur coast towards San Francisco, but just north of San Simeon the blue skies faded and we were plunged into thick, chilly California coastal fog. At points we could just make out a grey rocky shoreline, and the odd driftwood skeleton. But for most of its length, one of the world's most spectacular drives was more like an eerie scene from a Hitchcock film.
Getting there
The flights were the most expensive part of the trip. We bought ours (Virgin Atlantic) as a fly-drive package through Trailfinders (020 7368 1200; trailfinders.com), which had the cheapest direct flights at the time we travelled. Currently it has fly-drive options from £599 per person for a family or group of four, including flights to Los Angeles, returning from San Francisco, and 10 days’ car hire. Valid for travel in September 2012; book by March 27. Petrol, of course, is much cheaper in the US than in the UK.
Hotels on the California coast are not cheap in midsummer, but the Joie de Vivre group (jdvhotels.com), which has some great, stylish properties across California and beyond, has regular reductions of 25 per cent on selected properties on its website. We stayed at the Shorebreak in Huntington Beach (double rooms from about £142 a night) and, in San Francisco, at the Japanese-style Kabuki Hotel (double rooms from about £106).
In Santa Monica we stayed at the Oceana (hoteloceanasantamonica.com), a delightful, stylish and friendly boutique hotel just across the Pacific Highway from the beach; from about £248 a night for a courtyard-view room with two double beds (which can sleep a family of four), including bike hire; breakfast extra. Check the website for late offers.
Our Santa Barbara base was a two-bedroom cottage at the Cheshire Cat Inn b & b (cheshirecat.com). This was a bit frillier than the other hotels, but was within walking distance of shops and museums and had free parking. From about £182 a night for a two-bedroom cottage, including breakfast in the lovely garden.
Activities
Huntington Beach: surf lesson and bike hire (toesonthenose.com/advhyatt.html); Segway tour (hbsegwaytours.com); paddle-boarding lessons (mckinnonsurfboards.com).
Santa Monica:bike hire from perrys cafe.com; tour of movie stars’ homes (starline tours.com); Getty Center (getty.edu); Six Flags Magic Mountain (sixflags.com).
Santa Barbara: Rancho Oso horseback trail (rancho-oso.com); Santa Barbara kayak tours (sbadventureco.com).
More information
surfcityusa.com (for Huntington Beach); santamonica.com; visitcalifornia.co.uk.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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