Andrew Friedman

Valuing Hard Work

The federal Department of Labor says that home health aides are not covered by minimum wage and overtime laws.

Evelyn Coke spent decades of her life caring for others, and now, in her old age, she is leading the fight to demand that home care providers have their hard work valued like other workers.

This past weekend, Steve Greenhouse of the New York Times wrote an article about Ms. Coke's case, and the fact that the Supreme Court would be hearing it in less than one month. The article describes how there will soon be 2 million home health care workers, and how these workers often work twenty-four hours or more at a stretch and never receive overtime pay.

Their working conditions are indisputably deplorable. Nonetheless, the Bush Administration has lined up against them. More surprisingly, the Bloomberg Administration has too. Notwithstanding Bloomberg's Poverty Commission, he seems willing to accept the impoverishment of workers such as Ms. Coke. Why - to save money.

If home health care workers receive decent wages and overtime pay, Medicaid and Medicare costs would rise an estimed $250 million in New York City. That's about what the annual $400 property tax give-back to homeowners that Mayor Bloomberg instituted costs.

Given that, and given that this year New York City had close to a 3 billion dollar budget surplus, it is deeply disappointing that the Mayor is not supporting the right of hard-working home health aides to be treated like other workers.

This case is about values and priorities.

Let's hope the Supreme Court values the work of caring for our elderly and infirm..

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Posted at 8:09 AM, Mar 26, 2007 in Labor
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