SACRAMENTO – An aging homecare workforce is struggling to care for our aging population. On International Workers Day, homecare providers, people with disabilities and seniors came together to demand California fix what they call a broken long-term care system.
People from all across the state showed up to Capitol Park advocating for better pay, quality benefits and retirement plans for home care workers.
“So you have a lot of us who are seasoned workers, we’re becoming seniors ourselves and going to need care in a minute. But, we’re the ones giving the care and we’re not going to have anybody to care for us,” said homecare provider Leilani Reed.
The homecare workers are sending a clear message to the capitol that they want a process that allows for them to talk about their wages and working conditions not just at the county level, which is how it exists now, but statewide.
“One day everybody is going to need care in some shape, form or fashion. Give us what it is that we need so we can thrive and this can become a career for people and you have people wanting to get into the industry, especially younger people,” said Reed.