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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, MARCH 25-31, 2022
BXR
Burgos visit with home care worker spotlights Fair Pay Act
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Amid low pay and long hours leading to a
systemic collapse of home care work in New
York state, lawmakers are hoping to ensure
funding for the Fair Pay for Home Care Act
is included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s final
state budget proposal.
Homecare wages could see a 150% minimum
wage increase if the legislation were
passed by the state, pushing workers’ wages
between $19.80 and $22.50, which would boost
laborers into a livable wage.
For state Assemblymember Kenny Burgos,
who, on Friday in Soundview, shadowed
Ivelisse Vargas — a Bronx home care
worker who cares for a longtime pastor, tenant
leader and Bronx LGBTQ community
fixture Rev. Carmen Hernandez — getting
that $2.5 billion minimum wage legislation
through the finish line is a priority.
Hernandez, still a power organizer and
labor uniter, requires the use of a scooter
due to osteoporosis, a disease that gradually
thins and weakens the bones over time.
“You always have the nature of competing
interests (in the Assembly) and when
some people hear billion with a ‘B’ … in
their eyes it comes at a cost of something
they may not resonate with, that’s a priority
for them in the state. It’s a priority for
the Bronx,” said Burgos, a Soundview progressive
who represents one of the nation’s
most disadvantaged districts. “In that same
breath, a lot of these home care workers
and seniors, that are dependent on home
care workers, tend to come from low-income
communities and care for two or more individuals
in the Bronx.”
Currently, more than 40% of New York’s
home care workers live in or near poverty
due to chronically low wages — 57% rely on
public assistance. New York is expected to
see massive growth in its aging population
with estimates of a 25% boom in the 65-andover
population and a 75% spike in the age
85 and over bracket.
“Ageism is reflected in care strategies
that ignore a patient’s values and ideas
about what constitutes a productive life,”
age advocacy group NYC Grey Panthers told
the Bronx Times. “Too often, attitudes such
as ‘these patients are old and near the end
anyway’ or ‘there’s not much we can do to
help them’ prevail.”
Despite recent momentum that includes
a groundswell of advocacy in the Legislature
and on the ground, the Fair Pay Act —
which also includes a plan to set a minimum
Medicaid reimbursement rate for providers,
ensuring that home care agencies’ administrative
costs and home care workers themselves
are properly paid — has stalled in
recent years. Sen. Rachel May, a Syracuse
Democrat, the bill’s sponsor, argues that
higher pay will help keep people in the field,
and also recognize them for the challenges
they’ve faced during the pandemic.
Opponents contend the Fair Act legislation
is costly and does not address deeper
problems in the state’s home care industry.
Hochul’s budget proposal does not include
funding for the legislation.
The budget will be negotiated by state
Assembly and Senate leaders with Hochul,
and must be finalized by April 1.
A trend familiar to most industries and
labor forces, COVID-19 exposed and widened
inequalities in the home care industry
with an impact affecting both givers and receivers
of care. A damning report published
by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
found the state’s pandemic response to nursing
homes inadequate, in large part due to a
state Heath Department under former Gov.
Andrew Cuomo that undercounted COVID
nursing home deaths by nearly 50%.
And their providers are underpaid and
overworked, and have seen a mass exodus
of nearly 20% from the industry. Burgos
said that without meaningful change to the
home care industry, it’s a system of the “vulnerable
leading the vulnerable.”
“Aging is something that we’re all guaranteed
to go through, and as our bodies
break through simple tasks become difficult
and it becomes difficult to live alone,”
said Burgos. “That’s why there is a need for
home care workers. But now imagine that
that person who assists you, can’t assist
themselves and is one pay check away from
homelessness.”
The Fair Pay Act would annually net
more than $3.6 billion for the state and
would quickly eliminate the labor shortage
– generating tens of thousands of new
jobs for a workforce that is currently 90%
For home care workers like Ivelisse Vargas, low wages and high burnout are causing a mass exodus
in the state’s home care industry. State Assemblymember Kenny Burgos spent the day with her on
Friday, March 18. Photo | Christian Barbato
women, 67% immigrants, and 75% women
of color, according to a March 2021 CUNY
report.
“Stimulus policies with a high bang for
their buck deliver resources quickly, and
to the households most likely to need help
making ends meet and so will quickly spend
rather than save any additional dollar they
receive,” the report stated.
In 2020, 76% of home care agencies were
forced to delay or deny new consumers because
of the workforce shortage.
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