Caring Across Generations in the News

Looking Out for Homecare Workers, Looking Out for Our Future

Published by NDWA Director Ai-jen Poo in the Huffington Post

It used to be that the things you could count on in life were birth, death and taxes. To that list, most of us can add relying upon others in our later years. While we all would like to see ourselves staying as healthy as possible and aging gracefully, even actively, in truth, 70 percent of those who reach the age of 65 (and eight Americans hit that milestone per minute) will need some form of care or support services.

Boosting Pay for Care Workers

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was on NPR yesterday, discussing the new proposed rules for home care workers.  From the transcripts:

Secretary Solis: I definitely see many women who have not been paid adequately who had to subsidize their income through public welfare programs, food stamp programs and through other means. And we should be taking a close look at this over the next few years. Not just this year, as we propose the rules but as we move towards the baby-boomer population living longer and choosing to live at home.

Winning Basic Care for Caregivers

By Laura Flanders in The Nation

... Whatever happens electorally next year, OWS will have played some part in it, but if OWS gets written into the media accounts it’ll be a victory in itself, because generally the money media cover change as if it’s a mysterious process in which pretty much only presidents deserve real credit, not movements. Its no wonder regular Americans have a rather skewed picture of history, politics and our potential part in any of it.

Advocates for New Labor Law Rules Speak Out

By Mary Silver, in The Epoch Times

In-home care advocates do not want the changes to be adversarial. “There is not a ‘we’ and a ‘they’ between caregivers and care providers,” said Robin Shaffert, policy consultant for Caring Across Generations, and member of Hand In Hand: The Domestic Employers Association. “You have to think about how much love there is in this relationship.”

Coverage of Thursday's DOL Announcement

The New York Times, USA Today and Marketplace all covered Thursday's announcement of new regulations for fair pay.

From the New York Times:

Labor unions and advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for the changes, contending that the 37-year-old exemption improperly swept these workers, who care for many elderly and disabled Americans, into the same “companion” category as baby sitters. The administration’s move calls for home care aides to be protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.

Care Congress Launched In SF

On Saturday, August 20, 2011, from noon to 8:00 p.m., an estimated 500 to 600 people – infants to elders, people with disabilities, their advocates, and caregivers — from across the Western States and California packed Mission High School, 3750 Mission Street, for the first San Francisco Bay Area 'Care Congress: Caring Across Generations,' featuring speakers, dinner, and a cultural event.

James Chionsini, Planning for Elders, told the crowd, “Earlier today I was looking outside, and there were more people in here than there were in [Dolores] park.”

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