Energized by the national Fight For $15, these women are the voice of wage justice for Florida’s workers.

by Tobias Packer for "Our Live and Times"

“Winning the Fight for $15 and earning a living wage is a way to bring back dignity to the American worker," says Bridgette Montgomery of Mims, Florida who believes in the American Dream.

"I think most Americans are like me,” she says frankly. “We want to live comfortably. We want to feed our families. Pay our bills. Contribute."

A CNA for 16 years at the Consulate-owned Vista Manor Rehabilitation Center in Titusville FL, Bridgette, along with hundreds of caregivers at Consulate are standing up in an ongoing struggle for fair pay and better care for their residents.

“We demand better quality care for our patients and better pay and benefits so that we can live our lives and provide for our families,” says Kim White, a CNA at Lake Mary Health and Rehabilitation Center. “We've given them opportunity upon opportunity to give us a living, decent wage and we've been shut down every time. We're tired of asking for their common sense, so now we're demanding dollars."

Consulate Healthcare is Florida’s largest long-term care provider. While the nursing home industry has enjoyed five consecutive years of market growth, Consulate workers are paid below average wages in institutions that are chronically short staffed.

“As caregivers, we are dedicated to caring for our residents because we know they are someone’s grandmother or father. But we also need to take care of our families and Consulate is shortchanging us with poverty wages,” says White, a single mother from Orlando.

Consulate workers aren’t backing down; they’re among the millions of workers who’ve mobilized in The Fight for $15. 1199SEIU members at 19 Consulate facilities in Florida are demanding a living wage of $15 and hour and better care for their residents.

“If we go to the table again and we don't get $15, we're ready to strike all 19 facilities,” asserts White.

Montgomery is active on social media and first began reading about the Fight For $15 on Facebook. Inspired by last year’s news coverage of striking fast food and service workers, Bridgette organized several co-workers and drove over 200 miles south to attend a Fight For $15 rally in Miami.

"It was so exciting to see all of those workers fighting together. Young and old. People from different backgrounds - union and non-union who do all different kinds of work standing up for the same cause, together,” she says proudly.

A former self-described 'background person', the growing national momentum of the Fight For $15 compelled her to step outside her comfort zone. Now she’s a leader. For Montgomery, the Fight for $15 is personal and means restoring the American Dream.

"After that rally in Miami I realized I have to do more. I grew up around here, so I went to school with many of my co-workers,” she says. “Right now, people don't see the work I do as important. But me and my co-workers, we work hard to provide professional service and quality care to people who really need it. So when I stand up, I'm standing up for my family, my friends, and my community."

But she also knows that winning is vital beyond Florida’s borders, and she has to share the energy that’s bolstering the Fight there to win battles across the country.

"Most Americans don't want to be involved in politics. Winning the Fight for $15 and earning a living wage is a way to bring back dignity to the American worker. Someone like me who is struggling to support two teenagers on less than $10 and hour, I don't really have a choice. We must step up,” she presses. “Corporations like Consulate Healthcare are not going to look after our best interest, so it's going to take a political movement to win this fight."