Last week, Abena wrote about two women who show us how critical it is to have more women in leadership at the state legislature. Like many of you, I am inspired by these women and our other TakeAction endorsed candidates because they give me a glimpse of hope, a vision of the future of our state.
And I also know that leadership at our state Capitol is not enough. For most of us, we learn
about the world, we shape our ideas of who we can and should be, far away from marble halls of the Capitol building. We learn and grow at home, on our neighborhood blocks, in classrooms and the living rooms of our friends and family. And so we can’t just look for leadership at the Capitol, we have to look for leadership at home.
This is what a new program of TakeAction Minnesota, Care Worker Action, is all about. Care Worker Action works to build the leadership and power of home care workers and Personal Care Assistants (PCAs) who work to provide in-home care like housekeeping, personal care, and other support to seniors and people with disabilities.
There are 55,000 home care workers in Minnesota. Overwhelmingly, these workers are women (estimated at 89%), disproportionately people of color, and the average wage is $10.80/hour with little opportunity for raises or advancement, even after decades of experience. The roots of this work being under-valued go all the way back to the 1930s. When politicians negotiated who would be covered under new labor standards that were part of the New Deal, two notable groups were excluded because of racism and sexism: farm workers and domestic workers, including home care workers. Both of these groups were primarily made up of African American workers and work in the home had always been considered “women’s work.”
Despite this history of being underpaid, and under protected, home care workers have continued to be a powerful force in labor organizing for decades, including here in Minnesota where homecare workers won the right to a union in 2014. The work of Care Worker Action is to build power and leadership of workers who are not eligible for the state-wide union but still are the leaders and voices we need as we continue to fight for greater worker protections like Earned Sick and Safe Time, accessible health care for all, and tackle the shortage of long-term care options for our aging state. With our voices together, we will not only look to our leaders in St. Paul to solutions, but also to the people who know this world best: workers, clients, and their families.
We kicked off our work – in the Minnesota January – with good old-fashioned door to
door canvassing. In almost every conversation we asked the question, “Do you think politicians at the Capitol understand what you do and what your clients need?” And the answer is almost always an emphatic “No!” As our membership and leadership team continues to grow, we center our work around two principles:
- The value of workers sharing wisdom with other workers
- The people most equipped to make decisions about homecare work in our state are the workers themselves with their clients.
If you or someone you know receives or provides home care, please connect with our team! Jessica@takeactionminnesota.org, 651-379-0762.
