Frontline Caregivers: Still Struggling

In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, Volume 59, Issue 1, p. 46-50

Abstract

The Great Recession has hit home-based workers like Flora Johnson of Chicago (who cares for her adult son who suffers from cerebral palsy) with a triple whammy. The housing and mortgage crisis threatened their very workplace -- their homes or the homes of those they cared for; the fiscal crisis of the state led to cuts in funds that paid their wages through long-term care programs; and the conservative political backlash and Republican ascent of 2010 opened an assault on their hard-won collective bargaining rights, wage increases, and recognition as "workers." Poor black women like Johnson have long cared for the elderly, ill, and disabled -- whether in their own homes or in the residences of others. Sometimes, they do it out of love; many have referred to care work as "a calling." Often, it is the best job they can find. In Chicago, African Americans dominate this workforce. Elsewhere in the United States, Latinas and other recent immigrants make up a third of those who perform daily tasks -- bathing bodies, brushing teeth, putting on clothes, cooking meals -- that enable people to live decently in their own homes. These workers are America's frontline caregivers. Home care workers earn just a bit more than the minimum wage and historically have had little or no job security, health benefits, or even workers' compensation. Adapted from the source document.