Local home care providers with 1199NE SEIU shared an update today in their campaign to turn State-funded home care jobs into good jobs with health care, paid sick days, retirement, and wages that they can support their families on.

Governor Ned Lamont requested a meeting with SEIU leaders just hours after home care providers rallied outside the Governor’s mansion where they called for him to walk a day in their shoes and witness how important their work is to Connecticut families and, yet, how difficult it is to provide for themselves.

Following the news, Angel Bailey, an Ansonia home care provider and member of 1199NE SEIU issued the following statement:

“For months, home care providers have been raising a clear demand for the state to transform home care jobs into good jobs so we can ensure that older people and people with disabilities in Connecticut have the care they need to stay in their homes. Home care providers paid by the State of Connecticut currently have no health insurance, no paid sick days, no retirement plan, and wages which leave many unable to support themselves or their families.

“We’re glad to announce that Governor Lamont has invited SEIU leaders to meet directly and discuss these issues on March 30th. We are heartened that he wants to hear about how we can solve the crisis of low wages and lack of healthcare and other basic benefits–and to hear about the experiences of home care providers who’ve been providing essential care throughout this pandemic.

“With Governor Lamont’s leadership, we can transform the lives of home care providers throughout the state–primarily Black, brown and white working class women–who typically work multiple jobs caring for people–yet can’t afford care for themselves. We hope Governor Lamont will also accept our invitation to walk a day in our shoes and spend a day with a home care provider and client, so he can see firsthand why we love our work and how important it is to Connecticut families.

“Connecticut’s 10,000 home care providers alongside thousands more consumers and their families are united to create good jobs for homecare providers and provide the high-quality affordable care people need to stay in their homes and communities. We look forward to continuing a conversation with the Governor about making this vision a reality.”

BACKGROUND

Home care providers in the State of Connecticut currently receive no health insurance, no paid sick days, no retirement plan, and wages which leave many unable to support themselves or their families.

Home care providers have been caring for their clients throughout the pandemic without health insurance or sick days and have been forced to make impossible choices between going to work sick or paying their bills. That’s why, last month, 20 home care providers were arrested for engaging in an act of peaceful civil disobedience to demonstrate that providers and clients can’t wait any longer for Connecticut’s elected leaders to address these issues.

They recently extended an invite for Governor Lamont to spend a day alongside a Connecticut home care provider and the consumer they care for, walking a day in their shoes to see firsthand the impact of home care work and the need to transform the jobs into good jobs that support working families, as reported in the Hartford Courant: “Fulfilling work may fill our hearts, but it doesn’t fill our bellies or buy our needed prescriptions,” the letter read. “Among us we have medical debt that threatens to bankrupt us due to being uninsured; we’re at risk of eviction or have been evicted from our homes; we work multiple jobs up to 100 hours a week and still can’t keep our heads above water.”

For more information or to speak with a home care worker about their campaign, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Erica Noll (erica.noll@berlinrosen.com).