Latest News

• Mar 07 Act now on fair wages for home care aides Bruce C. Vladeck, The Hill With the stroke of his pen, the president can remove from the Fair Labor Standards Act the archaic “companionship exemption,” which excludes home care workers from federal wage protections.
• Mar 01 Home Care Rules in the Home Stretch New York Times The companionship exemption amounts to an institutionalized form of sexism, racism and exploitation ….
• Feb 25 It worked in Michigan; Raise wages for home care workers across the nation Detroit Free Press The Obama administration has proposed to end long-standing discrimination against home care aides ….
• Feb 08 Medicaid Vital to Long-term Care of Seniors Kaiser Family Foundation A new report describes how Medicaid is the nation’s primary payer of long-term services and supports.
• Jan 28 Long-Term Care Ombudsmen Face Challenges To Independence Kaiser Health News/ USAToday Elderly living in nursing homes or assisted living centers might not know it, but they’ve got an advocate …
• Sep 10 California nabs federal funding for home- and community-based program McKnight’s California will get an additional $573 million in federal Medicaid funds for personal attendant services.
• Sep 07 Home Care Consumers Want Better Pay and Benefits for their Workers Consumer Voice Increased funding for in-home services and better pay and benefits for workers are vital to quality home care.
• Sep 03 Workers struggle to find voice Dan D'Ambrosio, Burlington Free Press Vermont home care workers are organizing and hope forming a union will help improve conditions.
• Aug 03 Let's pay home-care providers fairly The Tennessean Home care is a civil right….
• Jul 13 Settlement for New York Home Care Workers Highlights Injustice in Labor Law In These Times The mistreatment of these home care workers sheds light on a national problem…
• Jul 08 Home care workers’ pay: Eventually, it’s personal Connie Schultz, Gaston Gazette NC It’s only a matter of time before you or someone you love will need help from home care workers.
• Jul 06 Opinion: Give protections to homecare workers NH Sentinel Shameful, substandard working conditions aren’t good for home-care employees, they aren’t good for your loved ones and they aren’t good for society.
• Jul 02 Home-Care Workers Aren’t Just ‘Companions’ New York Times President Obama proposed revising a Labor Department rule so that it would give home attendants and aides the protections, like overtime pay, that most American workers take for granted.
• Jun 27 Aging boomers need health care law CNN Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on health care reform, the justices have one thing in common, and one thing in common with a growing cohort of Americans: They are aging.
• Jun 22 Remarks of AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes Press Release Secretary-Treasurer Reyes gave the following acceptance speech at AFSCME’s 40th International Convention upon being sworn in as the union’s first ever woman secretary-treasurer.
• Jun 11 Home care workers deserve protections CNN Five years ago Monday, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to a hardworking woman from Queens, New York.
• Jun 04 Direct Care Workforce projected to reach 5 million PHI New report finds direct-care workers will be the largest occupational group, exceeding nurses and K-12 teachers by 2020.
• Jun 01 $25 million from Affordable Care Act for home and community-based long-term services US Department of Health and Human Services HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new $25 million funding opportunity made possible by the Affordable Care Act to help states strengthen access to home and community-based long-term services.
• May 25 States Encounter Obstacles Moving Elderly And Disabled Into Community KAISER HEALTH NEWS A multi-billion dollar federal initiative to move low-income elderly and disabled people from long-term care facilities into the community has fallen far short of its goals, as many states have struggled to cobble together housing and other services.
• May 16 Harkin Introduces Resolution in Support of Home Care Workers Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced S. Res. 453 urging the Senate to take a comprehensive approach to expand and support a strong home care workforce and to make long-term services and supports affordable and accessible.
• May 08 Home health care is one of the most profitable franchises USAToday According to new report, even as the industry fights new Department of Labor rules calling for mandatory overtime and minimum wage requirements for home health employees.
• Apr 16 HHS Creates New Administration for Community Living U.S. Department of Health & Human Services "The goal...will be to help people with disabilities and older Americans live productive, satisfying lives."
• Apr 16 Editorial: Keeping a Promise to Home Care Aides New York Times Sensible new rules to revise the companionship exemption have yet to be finalized.
• Apr 10 Raising the Floor on Pay New York Times As the nation’s economy slowly recovers and income inequality emerges as a crucial issue in the presidential campaign, lawmakers are facing growing pressure to raise the minimum wage.
• Mar 30 Ai-jen Poo and Sarita Gupta on Workers’ Rights (video) Bill Moyers Bill Moyers talks with Ai-jen Poo and Sarita Gupta about activism dedicated to restoring workers’ rights — rights they say have been stripped away by corporations. Domestic workers in particular, says Poo, are a “huge and growing part of the 99 percent.”
• Mar 28 House Republican Budget Would Hurt Home Care Services Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The proposed budget cuts $800 billion from Medicaid, threatening harm to home care services
• Mar 20 House Panel holds hearing on DOL proposed rules to provide Home Care Workers with federal wage and hour protections
• Mar 20 Eighty Seven Groups Urge “Be Fair to Those Who Care” by providing Home Care Workers with federal wage and hour protections
• Mar 06 Op-Ed: Home care workers deserve fair wages S.E. Watts, Newsday “This isn't just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing.”
• Feb 22 Add your voice for Home Care Workers The Department of Labor extended the comment period on an important wage and hour proposal for home care workers to Monday March 12. Add your voice in support of dignity for home care workers now.
• Feb 16 Home health industry fights minimum wage rule Kelly Kennedy, USA Today Highly profitable home care industry fights proposal to grant minimum wage and overtime to workers.
• Feb 03 Latinos in the Direct-Care Workforce NCLR, National Council of La Raza Revenues in the for-profit home care industry have doubled in the last 30 years, but wages for personal-care aide and home care aides have remained stagnant.
• Dec 25 Fairness for Home Care Aides Editorial, New York Times Proposed changes to Labor Department rules grant home care workers needed protections.
• Dec 15 AFSCME’s McEntee: Overtime Pay Long Overdue for Nation’s 2.5 Million Home Care Workers Press Release
• Jul 08 Statement of AFSCME Pres. McEntee on the June Jobs Report Press Release
• Jul 07 “A Healthy Economy Is the Best Deficit Reduction Strategy” Press Release Statement of AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on debt ceiling negotiations
• Jun 03 Ordinary workers took extraordinary stand, made history Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor, Memphis Commercial Appeal Memphis sanitation strike an important turning point in the fight for civil rights, workplace equality
• Apr 28 Workers Memorial Day Press Release Statement of AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on Workers Memorial Day
• Apr 12 Countering the Siege New York Times AFSCME President McEntee on how attacks on public service workers have energized union members and our allies in a growing battle over workers’ rights.
• May 05 12,000 Missouri Attendants Unite in Missouri Home Care Union Press Release Victory boosts quality home care for people with disabilities, elderly
• Dec 10 An Important Step for Seniors and Individuals With Disabilities Press Release AFSCME Declares Support for Community First Choice Option in Health Reform
• Oct 21 IHSS cuts on hold Contra Costa Times More than 800 Humboldt County clients will be spared a reduction in their in-home supportive services, at least for the time being.
• Sep 28 Continuing Concerns With Louisiana's Healthcare System Post-Katrina Marketwire Louisiana's healthcare is described in terms of "pre-" and "post-" Katrina, even four years after the storm.
• Aug 20 Medicaid Restrictions Prompt Lawsuit from Disabled, Ill Alaskans Anchorage Daily News Some disabled, ill and elderly Alaskans are suing over a temporary ban that prevents them from getting help in their home through Medicaid.
• Jun 27 Rollback Stuns Homecare Providers Columbus Dispatch Gov. Ted Strickland has proposed rolling back a 3 percent rate increase the state gave the home-care industry last year.