By: Rocío Sáenz Updated 000 Sea 2022, 18: 11 pm EST
At a time when American families are seeing price spikes and recovering from a global pandemic, Congress should focus on lowering costs for families and creating good-paying union jobs. Not surprisingly, President Biden made caring for others a central theme in his State of the Union address. By investing in our nation’s system of care, we can accomplish both goals at once.
Care workers provide essential services to families and communities, including care for elder care, child care, and care for the disabled, often for meager wages and benefits. Mery Davis, a home care worker from Chelsea, Massachusetts, and a naturalized US citizen from Honduras, joined her union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, to negotiate better terms for his co-workers. Mery and her family came to the United States 30 years ago in search of better education and job opportunities, the same reasons why most immigrants come here today. They showed up to work even as many in their own families and communities became sick or died of COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers.
Mery ended up losing her job at the height of the pandemic, making it even more difficult for her to cover her expenses. But that setback has not discouraged her from fighting. In fact, since she lost her job, she has continued to stand shoulder to shoulder with other health care workers and union members demanding that Congress approve crucial investments proposed by President Biden to ensure an equitable recovery in our country. She has boldly shared her experience and how investments in in-home care, child care, paid leave, immigration reform, climate justice and more would help her and her peers working in the care industry have a fair chance at a better future.
It is indisputable, we have failed on respecting, protecting, and fairly paying care workers in this country for far too long. The median salary for home care workers is $11.63/hour, or about $30,200 year. Many are unable to organize together within a union to bargain for better wages, protections and benefits thanks to outdated labor laws rooted in racism and sexism that devalued domestic work performed primarily by women of color.
But today, Congress has an opportunity to change this distorted reality and create a more stable caregiving workforce for struggling families. In Biden’s proposal, $63 billion would fund a first-of-its-kind investment to expand access to care, while turning care jobs at home in good union jobs with living wages, career paths, and new training opportunities. This would come on top of President Biden’s recent announcement that he aims to improve senior care facilities by establishing minimum staffing requirements to ensure our loved ones are cared for, creating a path to good union jobs for nursing home workers. care and reducing the number of shared rooms. Congress should not overlook the fact that supporting and investing in care is one of many policy areas that enjoys broad bipartisan support.
In addition, one of every three homecare workers is an immigrant. It is critical that Congress pass legislation to protect these workers from deportation and build a path to citizenship for millions of people. If migrant care workers are forced to leave, large numbers of people, mostly women, would be forced to leave their paid jobs to care for their loved ones. Last year, the House of Representatives provided some important protections for immigrants. Now, it is up to the Senate to ensure that immigrants of all backgrounds can follow in Mery’s footsteps, provide vital care services, and fully participate in our society and economy without fear of deportation.
For all these reasons and more, investing in our care economy while implementing bold immigration measures will strengthen families, communities, and our nation as we recover from the pandemic. And it will help ensure we have a workforce to meet growing demand with current trends pointing to a shortfall of 355,000 home care workers for 2040. By raising the standards of home care jobs and giving workers a voice through a union, we will enhance a workforce of women of color and immigrants and build a more diverse and resilient middle class.
Workers across the country organized and marched to the polls in 2020 to demand change, and now, newly Naturalized citizens like Mery are encouraging other immigrants to become citizens and vote. They have not paused their essential work during the pandemic. Now is the time for Congress to stand with the workers who have supported them by passing these essential investments. We can’t wait any longer.
Rocío Sáenz is the international vice president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
.