White logo illustration of the ESWA office building.
White logo illustration of the ESWA office building.

1977 —

Here until poverty isn’t!

Eastern Service Workers Association

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Two volunteers sign up a new ESWA member in their neighborhood.
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WELCOME TO

Eastern Service Workers Association

Eastern Service Workers Association (ESWA) is a free and voluntary, unincorporated membership association, uniting service workers, temporary workers and other low-income workers since 1977. We are 100% volunteer run and independent of government funding. ESWA seeks to eradicate the poverty status of this majority segment of the workforce and achieve a means to determine our own collective destiny.

Headline of image says "UNITE." Above shows four smiling young organizers and members.
Headline of image says "EDUCATE." Above shows smiling woman at head of table gesturing with her hand surrounded by three members listening.
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Headline of image says "ADVOCATE." Above shows a row of five seated members all holding up signs. The sign in the foreground reads, "NO POVERTY."
Headline of image says "CELEBRATE." Above shows a group of children running outdoors wearing bunny ears and carrying baskets, with three adult chaperones in their midst.
Headline of image says, "LEAD." Above shows a smiling organizer with two volunteers dropping off donation bags.
Illustration of a woman in blue carrying a baby on her back while vacuuming, a woman in red handwashing a rag and a woman in yellow changing sheets.
Illustration of a woman in blue carrying a baby on her back while vacuuming, a woman in red handwashing a rag and a woman in yellow changing sheets.

Illustration by Sally Wern Comport

OUR MEMBERS

Who Are Service Workers

Service workers labor in restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes and retail stores. We also work as childcare providers, security guards, construction workers, landscapers and home health aides. We build and clean hotels and office buildings, staff warehouses and fulfillment centers, and care for children and the elderly. We are the backbone of the economy, yet these and a variety of other vital jobs are often “gig” or part-time, providing little to no benefits or job security and paying insufficient wages to cover the survival needs of a family.

Photo of four members and volunteers in front of tables covered in clothes.

SELF-HELP MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT PROGRAM

Members Helping Members

Since 1977, ESWA members and volunteers have built an 11‑point self-help, membership benefit program including emergency and supplemental food, clothing, preventive medical care, non-emergency dental care, legal advice and much more. These benefits respond to our members’ immediate survival needs to keep us on our feet while we organize to gain control over our living and working conditions, and bring about an end to poverty once and for all.

Photo of smiling grocery worker handing a box of salad greens to a smiling volunteer.

Business owners contribute resources and services ranging from food and printing ESWA’s literature, to auto repairs that keep ESWA’s vehicles on the road. Doctors and lawyers donate their professional skills through the preventive medical and legal benefits to resolve immediate problems and ward off more serious ones. Clergy introduce us to their congregations and hundreds of others come through our doors to volunteer however they can, to build organization of and by the working families that constitute a vital sector of our community.

FINDING A COMMON HISTORIC SELF-INTEREST

Building Alliances

What Volunteers Do

Take on a role in the fight for lasting change.

Photo of two groups of volunteers and members in the ESWA office, with one volunteer listening to the member and another volunteer taking notes in each group.

ESWA members along with other volunteers from all walks of life work shoulder-to-shoulder to build a strong organization to eliminate the poverty conditions we face. ESWA’s Benefit Program assists ESWA members with basic necessities while we fight, and volunteers play an important role in delivering these benefits. Volunteers organize food and clothing distributions, they work with participating attorneys and doctors as lay advocates, learning how to overcome barriers for ESWA members to obtain what is rightfully theirs. Volunteers also learn to lead the organizing work required to win victories including neighborhood canvasses, housemeetings and community outreach.

✯ DARE TO STRUGGLE ✯

THE SERVICE WORKER DILEMMA

INDUSTRIES WHERE ESWA MEMBERS WORK

80% of the US workforce is employed in the service sector

Circular icon with headline that says "HOSPITALITY" and center illustration of a service bell and ring of keys.
Circular icon with headline that says, "CAREGIVING" and center illustration of a caregiver pushing an elderly person in a wheelchair below an illustration of a heart above two clasped hands.
Circular icon with headline that says "CONSTRUCTION & LANDSCAPING" and center illustration of a city skyline with multiple cranes and construction hat, glove and tools.
Circular icon with headline that says "CLEANING" with center illustration of a spray bottle, feather duster, sponge and scrub brush.
Circular icon with headline that says, "GIG WORK" and center illustration of a car, packages, and a smartphone showing a map of the car's route.
Circular icon with headline that says, "FOOD SERVICE" and center illustration of a chef's hat above a crisscrossed fork and spoon.
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✯

BALANCING THE BUDGET IN BOSTON

$46,000 ($22 / hour) $168,000 ($80 / hour) * for a single parent household with 2 children

AVERAGE SERVICE WORKER INCOME

LIVING WAGE

* according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator

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MONTHLY EXPENDITURES

FOR AN ESWA MEMBER WITH A $46,000 INCOME

74% of budget

HOUSING

$2800 / month
(Rent + Utilities)

 + 

24% of budget

FOOD

$920 / month

 + 

26% of budget

TRANSPORTATION

$990 / month

 = 

124% OF BUDGET

for just HOUSING, FOOD and TRANSPORTATION!

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NOT INCLUDED

MEDICAL INSURANCE

INTERNET SERVICE

DENTAL CARE

SCHOOL CLOTHES

EMERGENCIES

DEBT REPAYMENT

CHILDCARE

PHONE BILL

SAVINGS

TAXES

ENTERTAINMENT

EDUCATION

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THE SOLUTION =

ORGANIZE

“

The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands — the ownership and control of their livelihoods — are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights.

⎯⎯⎯ Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)
Keller lived in Boston and learned braille at the Perkins School for the Blind

✯ DARE TO WIN ✯