For Immediate Release:

Contact: April Ezzell, 1199SEIU Communications, (716) 449-1620 | April.Ezzell@1199.org

Allies Gather to Support Common-Sense Plan for New York’s Care Workers, Seniors, and People with Disabilities

ROCHESTER, NY - Home care workers and consumers will rally in support of President Biden’s Home Care Proposal, calling on Congress to sign on to the Better Care Better Jobs Act to expand access to urgently-needed care services and create good living-wage and union jobs for care workers. Care workers will hold a press conference and banner drop calling on Congress to "Respect Us, Protect Us, Pay Us!"

"We are gathering to have our voices heard and call on our elected officials in Washington to pass the $400-billion-dollar investment in all homecare workers and for those who need our care,” says Patricia George, a Home Care Worker. “The work we do every day saves lives, ensures individual freedoms and dignity. It is time that our country recognizes that by investing in us,” says George.

WHAT: Rally calling on Congress to support the Better Care Better Jobs Act

WHO: Home Care Givers and Allies

WHEN: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 3:30 pm
WHERE: Martin Luther King Park; Chestnut Street Side Rochester, NY 14607

VISUAL: Press Conference and Banner drop

BACKGROUND

Home care is the nation’s fastest-growing job sector, as roughly 10,000 Americans turn 65 each day. The U.S. will need to fill an estimated 4.7 million home care jobs, including over one million new jobs, by 2028. An investment in home and community-based care would help meet the ballooning demand for care and establish a pipeline of home care workers into the next generation by transforming care jobs into good, living-wage, union jobs with training opportunities and real career pathways.

Poll after poll has found a vast majority of voters across party lines supporting the White House’s proposed expansion of home and community-based services. Polling from Vox and Data for Progress shows that voters overwhelmingly support President Biden’s proposed $400 billion investment in home and community-based services for aging adults and people with disabilities (73%). The measure boasts a more than 50% margin of support, including broad support across party lines. And Navigator research polling further shows that 76% of Americans support raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers.

###

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. We represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.