Walter Bosque is an acupuncture technician at Promesa, a community development organization The Bronx, NY. He has dedicated much of his time lately to going to home health aide in-service trainings and talking to the aides about their pay and benefits.
And he tells them about the importance of the August 7 Justice for Home Health Aides Rally at the WaMu Theater at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“They’re so happy when I tell them we’re going to be 5,000 strong at this rally,” says Bosque. “They get disconnected because they’re one-on-one at the worksite.”
Currently there are 30,000 aides employed at 25 agencies throughout New York City, Long Island and Westchester County seeking improved wages and benefits. Some 8,000 home health aides work at agencies that refuse to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with 1199SEIU. More than 20,000 have been working under expired contracts for the last several years.
“It is a travesty for these agencies to abuse workers who do this work from their hearts. When I found out what the aides get I was outraged,” says Bosque. “For the amount of work they do they should be getting double. They put in all kinds of hours, they multi-task, and they do it from the heart.”
Bosque says it’s especially vital that members from outside 1199SEIU’s homecare division become involved in the fight for justice for home health aides.
“We need to unify the labor movement. Many homecare workers are the newest members of our family,” says Bosque. “Many of the aides are new to our country. It’s important that all workers have a common goal and that we’re all part of the work for that goal.”
