Passing the mic to these sisters to tell you why we can’t wait to #InvestInCare in Build Back Better
With Biden’s Build Back Better Act, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build an economy that works for everyone, starting with the home care industry. Investing in home care is critical right now, particularly for the majority-women-of-color workforce that dedicates their lives to caring for our elders and adults with disabilities.
And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
SEIU Healthcare Illinois nursing home worker Shantonia Jackson, writing in solidarity with Massachusetts home care worker Charlene Dickerson, recently penned an opinion piece for Common Dreams where they shared their experiences and raised bold demands:
Caregivers like us have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, with this time being among the most challenging of our combined 60 years of service within our industry. But our challenges did not begin with the global pandemic. Even before the pandemic, we’ve had to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet and support our families while providing the vital care that millions of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families depend on. […]
“At this consequential moment, Congress has the chance to stand on the right side of history to finally create pathways — not roadblocks — for caregivers like us to live quality lives doing the work we love, through this first-ever federal job reform program directed to a majority women of color workforce.”
Home care worker and SEIU Healthcare Missouri member Connie Crowley-Collins shares powerful details in the St. Louis Business Journal about how she struggles to survive on her low wages and the difference Build Back Better would make to her:
“Being paid only $12.65 an hour has made it hard to make ends meet for my family. But, I kept pushing through to provide the life-saving services that my clients and my children depend on me for. […]
“We could get a raise to $15/hr — the bare minimum anyone needs to survive — and have a voice on the job to bargain for things like paid time off, benefits, and protections at work. This would help us stay in our jobs, expand the workforce with more good, union jobs, and empower us to be able to care for our communities so they can age with dignity.”
And it’s not only home care workers calling for an investment. Our elected officials have heard the demands of workers and care consumers alike and are heeding their calls. They’re coming together to amplify the voices of workers and demand an investment in home care.
Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly backs workers’ demands theGrio, sharing her commitment to investing billions in home care, which in turn means investing in Black women:
“Fueling new jobs that pay a living wage and give these workers a voice to advocate through organizations like SEIU would lift up the Black and Latina women, who do the majority of home care work both in my home state of Illinois and across the nation. […]
“We all know a Black woman who has stepped up to care for their family, sacrificed for others or put themselves last. The system wasn’t built for us, as history has shown, and home care work proves the point.”
Illinois’ U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo similarly call for an investment in home care in Fortune, lifting up the story of SEIU Healthcare Illinois member Paralee:
“For workers like Paralee, an Illinois home care worker who supports people with disabilities in her community, her work is not just a paycheck–it’s a calling. That is why Paralee spent three days in the hospital with a woman, completely unpaid, because this woman was scared to be alone, and her family could not make the trip. Despite Paralee’s dedication to her patients, our current system too often fails to provide care for older Americans as well as people with disabilities and it fails to fairly compensate Paralee and other dedicated home care workers for the critical work they do. […]
“The bottom line is that if we’re going to build a better home care workforce, we need to expand services and dignity in care work with good pay and union rights. That is why President Biden made strengthening HCBS a pillar of Build Back Better Agenda–calling on Congress to make a significant investment in the care economy infrastructure that will empower every American in need of home and community-based care to secure such critical services.”
You don’t have to take it from me, you can take it from each of these women leaders: Now is the time to invest in long term care. The cost of inaction is too high.
