Leticia Mederos, Vice President
Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed a promising new rule that would extend basic minimum wage and overtime protections to millions of women and men who provide essential home care to children, parents, grandparents and others in need. It was a welcome and overdue step for our nation’s home care workers.
But despite the broad-based support for this critical measure – made clear by the thousands of you who sent comments to the Department of Labor earlier this year – we have not yet seen progress. And millions of home care workers, their families and the people they care for are worse off as a result.
That’s why workers and advocates are redoubling support for the rule and pressing even harder for its speedy implementation. How? By joining together to circulate a petition to remind policymakers that home care workers, their families and the people they care for cannot wait any longer for fair pay. Take a minute to sign the petition today, and then spread the word to family and friends.
Nearly three million home care workers in this country make it possible for the elderly and people with disabilities to bathe, get dressed, eat, take medications and more, while remaining independent in their own homes and communities. Ninety percent of these workers are women, and nearly half are forced to rely on public assistance to make ends meet because of poverty-level wages and few benefits.
This new rule will help ensure that millions of these women and men are more fairly compensated for their critical work. It will have a profound impact on their families while improving working conditions in an industry that is growing as the country’s population ages, yet has been grossly undervalued for much too long. And it will improve the quality of care for some of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.
Join us in showing your support for the invaluable care that home care workers provide for children, parents, grandparents and others in need. Sign the petition to extend to them the same minimum wage and overtime protections as the rest of the nation’s workforce.
This is an issue that society must address and fix now! Then need for care workers has never been greater and those we care for deserve to have the most highly skilled people taking care of them in the environment of their choosing. They have earned ths right. Just ask yourself….who do you want taking care of you & your loved ones and I think the answer will be clear that you want someone who is fairly compenstated for the critical job they do.
While it will be difficult for some people to afford the extra money it is unfair to do that on the backs (and in the pocketbooks) of others. Everyone needs a living wage and taking care of people who are ill and need care is included.
Oh, for a society that truly cares about others as is the case in most of the developed countries of the world.
It is about time that something is done about this situation.
Taking care of the old and ill is something that is hard, and the people who do it are not without needs of their own. The fact that many people end up in rest homes because we won’t pay minimum wage to their caregivers is a shame and embarassment to this country.
I do hope that this can be addressed as quickly as possible because these home workers sure are doing something beneficial for the community.