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Richard Trumka: A Working-Class Hero Helped Win Pay Rule for Home Care Workers (updated)
Last edited Thu Sep 19, 2013, 09:13 AM - Edit history (2)
A Working-Class Hero Helped Win Pay Rule for Home Care Workers
by Richard Trumka
What work is more important than caring for those who are elderly, sick or dying?
It’s hard work bathing people who can’t bathe themselves, cooking and cleaning, helping people get dressed and making sure medications are taken on schedule, day after day.
Yesterday, home care workers won the right to a minimum wage and overtime pay.
It’s a victory in the fight for all of us to value work, without a doubt. It’s nonetheless bittersweet because the driving force behind this victory, a heroic woman named Evelyn Coke, who spent her life caring for others before finally turning into an activist for fair pay, did not live to see it.
Evelyn Coke was born in Jamaica and raised her family in Queens, N.Y. She found a career she loved, as a home care worker, eventually earning about $7 an hour, even though she often worked as much as 70 hours a week. She sometimes worked three consecutive 24-hour shifts.
Evelyn finally sued to reverse federal labor regulations that exempted home care agencies from paying overtime. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.
Evelyn’s activism was rooted in need. She raised five children as a single mom. She worked hard and wanted to be paid fairly. A car accident in 2001 left her unable to work. By 2007, she needed a wheelchair.
After listening to the oral arguments when her case was before the Supreme Court, she said, “I hope they try to help me because I need help bad.”
But the Supreme Court ruled against her, saying the U.S. Department of Labor had acted within its discretion when it set home care workers apart.
Evelyn Coke’s rejection by the Supreme Court set the stage for a long push to get the Labor Department to revisit its rules. This week, the Obama administration stepped forward and revised the rules.
The new rules issued by the Labor Department will make a difference for millions of families, as the number of people working in home care grows dramatically.
Employment in the home care health field has exploded, from only a few hundred thousand jobs in 1988 to some 1.7 million in 2011, but pay and benefits have remained virtually unchanged, making it a high-turnover profession. Nearly half of all home care workers—overwhelmingly low income, female and minority—rely on food stamps or other public assistance.
It’s a sad fact that when Evelyn Coke suffered from kidney failure, she could not afford a health care worker to take care of her. In 2009, she died of heart failure. She was 74. Her son said a serious bedsore contributed to her death.
It’s heartbreaking because Evelyn Coke’s care had prevented many, many people from getting bedsores.
So I applaud the Obama administration for writing new rules to value the labor of home care workers. I only wish it could have happened sooner.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/18/1239711/-A-Working-Class-Hero-Helped-Win-Pay-Rule-for-Home-Care-Workers
by Richard Trumka
What work is more important than caring for those who are elderly, sick or dying?
It’s hard work bathing people who can’t bathe themselves, cooking and cleaning, helping people get dressed and making sure medications are taken on schedule, day after day.
Yesterday, home care workers won the right to a minimum wage and overtime pay.
It’s a victory in the fight for all of us to value work, without a doubt. It’s nonetheless bittersweet because the driving force behind this victory, a heroic woman named Evelyn Coke, who spent her life caring for others before finally turning into an activist for fair pay, did not live to see it.
Evelyn Coke was born in Jamaica and raised her family in Queens, N.Y. She found a career she loved, as a home care worker, eventually earning about $7 an hour, even though she often worked as much as 70 hours a week. She sometimes worked three consecutive 24-hour shifts.
Evelyn finally sued to reverse federal labor regulations that exempted home care agencies from paying overtime. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.
Evelyn’s activism was rooted in need. She raised five children as a single mom. She worked hard and wanted to be paid fairly. A car accident in 2001 left her unable to work. By 2007, she needed a wheelchair.
After listening to the oral arguments when her case was before the Supreme Court, she said, “I hope they try to help me because I need help bad.”
But the Supreme Court ruled against her, saying the U.S. Department of Labor had acted within its discretion when it set home care workers apart.
Evelyn Coke’s rejection by the Supreme Court set the stage for a long push to get the Labor Department to revisit its rules. This week, the Obama administration stepped forward and revised the rules.
The new rules issued by the Labor Department will make a difference for millions of families, as the number of people working in home care grows dramatically.
Employment in the home care health field has exploded, from only a few hundred thousand jobs in 1988 to some 1.7 million in 2011, but pay and benefits have remained virtually unchanged, making it a high-turnover profession. Nearly half of all home care workers—overwhelmingly low income, female and minority—rely on food stamps or other public assistance.
It’s a sad fact that when Evelyn Coke suffered from kidney failure, she could not afford a health care worker to take care of her. In 2009, she died of heart failure. She was 74. Her son said a serious bedsore contributed to her death.
It’s heartbreaking because Evelyn Coke’s care had prevented many, many people from getting bedsores.
So I applaud the Obama administration for writing new rules to value the labor of home care workers. I only wish it could have happened sooner.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/18/1239711/-A-Working-Class-Hero-Helped-Win-Pay-Rule-for-Home-Care-Workers
Why It Matters That Home Care Workers Just Got New Labor Rights (updated 2x)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023684107
Updated to add:
h/t Cha
Note:
Kos Media, LLC Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified
14 replies
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K & R 
I am an only child, I live in the DC area, while my widowed mother is still in Pittsburgh. Her health has taken a turn for the worse over the past few months, and I've had to rely on other people to take care of her. I am grateful beyond words at the wonderful people who are taking care of her. They deserve to be paid what they're worth. Actually, considering how cantankerous and stubborn my mother is, I think that her caretaker deserves combat pay. 