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<\/p>\nLack of good jobs has created a crisis for Michigan\u00a0families<\/p>\n
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LANSING\u00a0\u2014 Hundreds of home care workers joined senior and disability rights advocates at a rally at the state Capitol building Wednesday, championing legislation that would improve jobs and access to care by restoring home healthcare workers\u2019 right to form a union and creating a state authority to help with self-directed care. Thousands of Michigan families are without options for home care because too many workers have left \u2014 or cannot afford to join \u2014 this workforce.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI have been a home care worker for the last 15 years\u2026 and the last time I got a raise was 13 years ago. And as a home care worker, I\u2019m asking the Michigan Legislature to stand with us to ensure that we can access the training and legal protections and rights we need,\u201d said Phyllis Pride of Ecorse. \u201cAllow us to form a union. Every worker \u2014 no matter what they do \u2014 must be able to join a union and have a voice in their work.\u201d<\/p>\n
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State Senators Kevin Hertel and Sylvia Santana, who serve as chair and vice-chair of the chamber\u2019s health policy committee, are co-sponsoring\u00a0bills<\/a>\u00a0that would restore bargaining rights for approximately 31,000 workers who provide care through the Home Help program. The workers\u2019 union rights were stripped away in 2012, and since then, Michigan has fallen behind, paying home care workers some of the lowest wages in the country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI am proud to sponsor legislation that will restore bargaining rights for individual Home Help providers, and create a public authority,\u201d said Sen. Hertel. \u201cAn authority for home care workers means better care for seniors and persons with\u00a0disabilities, and\u00a0saves taxpayer dollars by allowing people to avoid the expense of a nursing home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Disability and senior rights advocates say the legislation, House Bills 790 and 791, which were introduced Wednesday, would help address a growing and important need.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michigan is in a home care crisis as the senior population booms and will have\u00a0115,500 home care job openings<\/a>\u00a0from 2020\u20132030. Training, better benefits and higher pay for home care workers through a Home Help authority, along with restoring their bargaining rights, will bring caregivers to these jobs, encourage continuity of care, relieve the burden of the high cost of a nursing home, and enable better health at home. Michigan\u2019s older population is above the\u00a0national average.\u00a0By 2030, the\u00a0retirement age population<\/a>\u00a0will grow by more than 30% \u2014 450,000 people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese seniors, some of whom have seen everything from world wars to a worldwide pandemic, deserve to be cared for with dignity,\u201d said Alison Hirschel, director of the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative. \u201cSeniors need to be able to access the quality care they need when they need\u00a0it\u00a0and they\u2019d prefer to get that help at home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An estimated 23 percent of the state\u2019s population has at least one disability, said Jill Gerrie, the project coordinator for The Arc Michigan. The nonprofit advocates for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere must be a public policy developed that serves people with\u00a0IDD\u00a0so they are not waitlisted for long term support and services,\u201d said Gerrie. \u201cHaving the infrastructure and authority helps address a health crisis for our IDD community, and we strongly support this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Laura Hall of the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition said the organization strives to create a society where individuals with disabilities can thrive without facing discrimination or barriers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cPart of the equation for \u201cfull inclusion\u201d for disabled people is having access to the care we need in our homes,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI should\u00a0know:\u00a0I use direct care worker services to get to work every day and to live independently.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Home care workers across the country are winning legislative changes to improve care and jobs in their states that stabilize the workforce. SEIU Local 2015 home care workers in San Francisco recently negotiated a union contract that includes a path to earn $25.50 \u2014 the highest home care wage in California including. In Illinois, IP home care workers united in SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana,\u00a0Kansas\u00a0and Missouri reached a tentative agreement that includes raises and seniority add-ons, paid time-off for every PA, a path to retirement, and the creation of a statewide registry to match families with caregivers who best meet their needs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Said SEIU Local 2015 member\u00a0Boxinett\u00a0King, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to be an example to California \u2014 and the nation \u2014 of the power home care workers have in shaping the future of care in favor of caregivers and our recipients.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time for Michigan to follow our lead in Illinois! If workers are supported, we can provide better support to the folks to whom we provide care,\u201d Illinois home care worker Lillie Cleeton\u00a0told the crowd.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Watch the livestream of Wednesday\u2019s event\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>and find out more on\u00a0Facebook.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lack of good jobs has created a crisis for Michigan\u00a0families LANSING\u00a0\u2014 Hundreds of home care workers joined senior and disability rights advocates at a rally at the state Capitol building Wednesday, championing legislation that would improve jobs and access to care by restoring home healthcare workers\u2019 right to form a union and creating a […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6894,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6891\/revisions\/6894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}