ATLANTA, Georgia (CW69 News at 10) – Low wages are driving home care workers out of the industry, and the shortage is particularly true in Georgia. Lawyers held rallies calling for lawmakers on Capitol Hill to adopt the Build Back Better Agenda as the solution.
Labor advocates and community leaders gathered outside the nation’s Capitol on November 16, 2021, while local leaders gathered inside the Georgia State Capitol. They said if Congress passes the bill it will address the shortage of home care workers.
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“These health care workers are essential and should be treated as such,” said Sandra Williams, executive director of the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council.
“We demand that Build Back Better be passed with the same efficiency and fervor that the Infrastructure Act was passed,” said John Taylor, a national field director at Service Employees International Union.
They discussed the desperate needs of the aging population and statements from workers like Latonya Jones Costa who gathered in Washington, DC. and not valued as a vital workforce, ”said community lawyer Kristen Toliver, who read a statement on behalf of Costa.
Build Back Better plan opponents say it will raise taxes and inflation. Proponents say it would invest $ 150 billion in the industry and create thousands of jobs.
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“87 percent of homeworkers in the country are women. It’s a little higher in Georgia, ”said Williams.
Of more than 41,000 home care workers in Georgia, 93% are women, over 60% are black, 14% are immigrants, and the median hourly wage is $ 10.54, according to personal data collected by PHI, a national research organization.
“We need it to pass the house. We need it to go to the Senate, ”said Taylor.
“Georgia delivered for you. Now we want you to deliver for us, ”said State Sen. Sheik Rahman (D-5th, Lawrenceville).
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US Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock supported the law. Home care advocates hope that other lawmakers will follow suit.
