| "Dignity wages": |
San Mateo Daily Journal/Government Watch, 1/28/15, "County Government."
| This pill every day |
"The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a pay
hike for in-home care workers Tuesday from $11.50 an hour to $12.65 an
hour. The In-Home Supportive Services providers care for the elderly and
individuals with disabilities in their homes. The Service Employees
International Union was seeking a $15 an hour wage but approved the
county’s offer of a 10 percent pay increase in a Monday vote."
Related background article - San Mateo Daily Journal/Michele Durand, 11/19/14.
"Health workers arrested: Wage hike demanded at Board of Supervisors
meeting."
.... "The county’s 5,000 home health care workers care for the elderly and
disabled, often their own relatives, at home rather than diverting them
to other methods of help. SEIU says the providers are unable to strike,
leaving them little recourse other than civil disobedience. The
employees have spent hours addressing the supervisors during public
comment at two previous meetings but Tuesday morning amplified their
efforts by trying to outright disrupt the meeting. Workers say wages
haven’t increased since 2007, leaving hundreds struggling and in
search
of “dignity” wages — particularly women and women of color who make up
the majority of home health providers.The Tuesday action was billed as
“Fight for $15” in reference to
the 30 percent hourly wage increase they want over the next four years.
San Mateo County offered a 10 percent wage increase last week
which County Manager John Maltbie said would make the providers among
the highest paid in California and cost the county millions of dollars.
Workers currently make $11.50."
| A few more spoons full |
| Easy does it |
"News release from the County of San Mateo: The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution increasing the hourly wage for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers by 10 percent from $11.50 to $12.65 and expanding the number receiving transportation assistance. County officials said they were glad Service Employees International Union (SEIU) accepted their last, best and final offer.
.... The 10 percent increase for the term of July 1, 2014 through Dec. 31, 2015 must still be approved by the state. If so, the increase will likely take effect April 1, the first month following the 60-day processing period. .... Future labor negotiations are expected to revert to the state which is responsible for 33 percent of IHSS wages. Federal contracts cover 50 percent of the funding and San Mateo County pays 17 percent. The county also maintains the list of workers from which clients hire and authorizes the number of hours a provider can work for a client. .... "With the passage of SB 1036, the state will assume responsibility for labor negotiations in the future which should help to eliminate some of the issues experienced in negotiations this year,” County Manager John Maltbie said." Read more.
Note photographs. Help with medications by Jane Mundy from Lawyers and settlements. Food service by Ed Feulner, Townhall/Trusted Senior Care. $15 by Michelle Durand from the San Mateo Daily Journal 11/19/14 article. Out of bed to sitting by San Hananel/Associated Press, Equal voice for families Story blog.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
23 comments:
$12.65 an hour is about $25k per year. How can anyone make ends meet on that?????
Not a bad wage for taking care of someone in your own family! I've got to hand it to them. Pretty good scam on the taxpayers. I never would have thought of that one!
916 Not to diminish that thrill of discovery for ya, but did you stop to consider that some of these people may have had to give up previous jobs to care for an aging or ill relative? Does social services support this? What if they were unemployed and this put them back to work? I'm sure you'll be cared for purely out of the goodness of some relative's heart.
12:20-
Maybe I can get paid for washing my dishes; walking my dog; making my bed. Perhaps we should be paying mothers for taking care of their children. How about we get paid for taking care of ourselves?
You've got an interesting perception as to what constitutes "work/wage earning jobs". Moreover, you seem to have no concern as to who will be paying for it. I know lots of people who take care of family members on their own dime out of love and a sense of responsibility. When someone has no family and no money, social services steps in. We are a compassionate, caring society. Too bad that's not enough for you.
$12.65/hour seems to be a savings compared to the cost of an individual's stay in a skilled nursing facility, which is often the only alternative solution for people who require the level of care that IHSS-eligible receipients need. Yes, we are a compassionate, caring society, which is exactly why IHSS is a public program.
Anon 12:20 - If you think care givers just "wash dishes" etc to earn this miserly pittance then you obviously have no conception as to what this entails. Someday you will know, just not today. And when you do, walking your dog will be the furthest thing from your mind.
But please keep spouting off your ignorance, it's entertaining.
Speaking of "ignorance"...the fact that you imply IHSS home workers are providing care requiring the capabilities of a skilled nurse is patently absurd. Do you have any idea what kind of medical requirements force someone into a SNF? If someone is in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) they would require the care of a trained nurse under the supervision of doctors in order to survive. A qualified, fully credentialed nurse would never give up their day job for a $12.65/hr gig to take care of a family member. In reality, no one really does. Since it is "all in the family" often the IHSS home worker retains their real job or collects unemployment as their family as a whole performs these "sacrificial" duties to assist their own family members - duties that previous generations routinely performed out of love for their elder family members. In fact, it was always considered to be the circle of life that we would someday care for the ones that cared for us when we were young and helpless. I don't recall that it ever involved a paycheck.
Why is it that some of you believe that it's the taxpayer's responsibility to pay you for the simple care of your loved ones? Tell me, is there anything that you think can survive or operate without government intervention? Are we that helpless/dependent? Isn't there anything anymore that IS our responsibility?
352 You are a clueless sanctimonious wonder and you just keep proving it.
352, no one other than you suggested that caregivers are skilled nurses. People who are disabled or frail need assisted care. And not every caregiver is paid. Those who do this as an occupation are; others in a family or household are determined on a case by case basis.
Before making wild comments, your "responsibility" could be to become better informed. A good place to start, try Wikipedia/Caregiver. Several pages and links follow:
"A caregiver or carer is an unpaid or paid person who helps another individual with an impairment with his or her activities of daily living. Any person with a health impairment might use caregiving services to address their difficulties. Caregiving is most commonly used to address impairments related to old age, disability, a disease, or a mental disorder.
Typical duties of a caregiver might include taking care of someone who has a chronic illness or disease; managing medications or talk to doctors and nurses on someone's behalf; helping to bathe or dress someone who is frail or disabled; or taking care of household chores, meals, or bills for someone who cannot do these things alone.
With an increasingly aging population in all developed societies, the role of caregiver has been increasingly recognized as an important one, both functionally and economically. Many organizations which provide support for persons with disabilities have developed various forms of support for carers as well."
Most frail and disabled people prefer to live in their homes. As for the taxpayer: maintaining these "earned benefit" past taxpayers in their homes, when possible, is considered lower cost than warehousing them (or possibly eventually us) in extended care facilities.
Not everyone taking care of an elderly relative gets paid nor do they need to, but I've seen where it can help. My mother's once a week house cleaner was a lady in her late 50s who cleaned houses for 8 to 10 clients. When her mother had a stroke, became very frail, needed and wanted in-home care (not nursing care), the daughter quit house cleaning and stayed home to care for her mother until the mother's final illness a couple years later. I know she was paid something for that by the county (the taxpayers) and that's fine by me. A far more humane solution than parking the elderly parent in a nursing home they neither want nor need to be in. I have no problem with my tax dollars and my government subsidizing this. Who do you think would pay for the nursing home? Not everyone will qualify or even consider it, but it should be on the table as an option when the pieces would fit. Apparently the daughter was not tempted by the "riches" in home health care of the elderly. She is now once again cleaning houses for a living.
A reminder for those who forgot or for many that didn't know
Here is what happened on January 1, 2015 :
Top Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%
Top Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%
Top Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%
Capital Gains tax went from 15% to 28%
Dividends tax went from 15% to 39.6%
Estate tax went from 0% to 55%
Remember these facts :
These taxes were all passed only with democrat votes, no republicans voted for these taxes.
These taxes were all passed under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
807, what "facts", your anonymous words? Where's the article, some basis of proof, and why are you not submitting it to the blog for posting-- or at least providing an information link with your comment? And what is the detailed information, example qualifying tax levels based on income, etc.
How could Democrats pass anything without Republicans? When did this legislation pass? Incremental enactment of Affordable Care Act regulations began as early as May, 2010. Was this legislation passed prior?
Stop characterizing these care givers as "dishwashers". Many are family members who have to give up their jobs in order to care for vets who have suffered traumatic injuries to protect your right to sit home and spout your sanctimonious bull.
As for the Obamacare tax BS - SO WHAT, even if it is true. Better we pay for healthcare for everyone then get hosed by big pharma and big insurance. Who do you think pays for all those emergency room visits? Want to lower Obamacare costs -make it all single payer universal and - just extend medicare to everyone.
1214 Save your energy. That guy's not wearing the steel-toed boots of the privileged, he's just licking them.
Jeb Bush President of the United States will repeal OBama care and all those tax increases.
235 Let's hope old Jebbie makes that pledge. It'll produce the biggest Democratic voter turn-out in history. Stomp!
4:55
Old Man Bush got his son George elected twice.
Double stomp.
I think Jeb could be the Bush who can stomp America flat once and for all. Cheney and Rove are rested, re-built and ready. Hilary, baby, your country needs you.
I'm legal imigrant and dishwasher at well known SF restaurant and am insulted to be compared to people who actually have to be paid by taxpayer in order to take care of member of their own family. Back in old country people would die laughing if I ever suggested such a thing.
Bad news for the socialists/left wing nuts:
Medicare Remains on Fast Track to Bankruptcy
anon 4:50
Go back to acting school.
You're really pathetic.
@6:12-
A bit "sanctimonious", aren't we?
C'mon 612 the guy is hilarious. Legal immigrant from the "old country" my ass. That nut is local-grown.
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