Elected Officials, 1199, AARP Call on Hochul to End Home Care Crisis — Gov’s SOTS Does Not Raise Wages for Home Care
Elected officials, 1199 and AARP will tomorrow hold a press conference to call on Governor Kathy Hochul to end the state's worst-in-the-nation home care crisis by passing Fair Pay for Home Care in her executive budget.
In her State of the State, Hochul announced her goal to end the healthcare worker shortage, but the governor did not pledge any wage increases to home care workers. A new report released at the press conference today will reveal 60% of open health care jobs are in the home care sector, and the driving cause of the home care shortage is low wages.
Press conference speakers will make clear the governor cannot end the health care shortage without raising wages for home care workers.
WHAT: Press Conference with Elected Officials, 1199 and AARP to Call on Governor Hochul Include Fair Pay for Home Care in Budget
WHEN: 11:00 AM, Tuesday, January 11, 2022
WHO: State Senator & Lead Sponsor Rachel May
Assemblymember & Lead Sponsor Dick Gottfried
State Senator Robert Jackson
State Senator Michelle Hinchey
State Senator Julia Salazar
State Senator Diane Savino
Assemblymember Sarah Clark
Assemblymember Harvey Epstein
Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest
Assemblymember Amy Paulin
Assemblymember Karines Reyes
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal
Assemblymember Amanda Septimo
1199 Executive Vice President Rona Shapiro
1199 worker Lilieth Clacken
AARP State Legislative Representative Bill Ferris
New York Caring Majority
County Offices for the Aging
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network
Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
WHERE: Zoom - Click HERE to register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/united-in-support-of-fair-pay
Low wages are the single largest driving factor causing New York's worst-in-the-nation home care shortage. With New York's 65+ population slated to grow 25% in the next 20 years, the current workforce shortage is projected to increase exponentially: New York will have more than 600,000 home care job openings by 2026. Additionally, research has found that recovering Covid patients have fared far better in home care than nursing homes.
The Fair Pay for Home Care Act currently has bipartisan support in both houses, with 79 sponsors in the Assembly and 33 sponsors in the Senate. If passed, the state would see increased revenue totaling $5.4 billion through job creation and moving home care workers off of social assistance.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com