A Fight For the Work that Makes All Work Possible
Can we take care of the people who take care of us?
Matriarchy Report is two journalist moms writing about family issues from a feminist perspective. Research, interviews, and personal stories that connect the dots between systemic issues and family life. Geriatric moms unite. You can read past issues here. Click the button below to subscribe and get this newsletter in your inbox, free.
My daughter’s bookshelf is packed with books that found their way to her without my noticing: books we’ve been given, borrowed or scooped up at sidewalk sales.
One that’s been in rotation over the past little while is called Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909. It’s the story of a teenage girl, Clara Lemlich, who organized garment workers at the start of the 20th century. Most of those workers were other teenage girls like her, immigrants from East Europe. They worked 12 hour days, hunched over sewing machines, for little pay and no job protection.
Little Clara leads a line of striking workers into a crowd: “Stand fast, girls!” she yells.
That’s about how I’m feeling right about now: Stand fast, everyone.
Last week, Lane wrote about the many reasons we are being forced to admit that it’s impossible to afford to have kids anymore.
Now we’re watching as the Democrats concede the promise of paid family leave. The U.S. remains one of six countries in the whole world with no national paid leave.
There’s another piece of the “kids, care and climate” bill that remains at play: more support for eldercare.
The initial proposals provided more funding for long term care -- allowing older and disabled people to be cared for in their home -- as well as expanded Medicare benefits. These are popular proposals, according to surveys by Data for Progress.
Home care workers are among the people who would benefit directly from expanded federal funding for eldercare. They are the people who do the work that “makes all other work possible.”
As Congress debates their spending proposals, I recently learned that there’s a battle closer to my home that’s been going on for years, and directly affects the lives of home care workers, and the people they care for.
In New York State, home care workers can serve in 24-hour shifts, but are paid for only 13 hours of work.
The argument from insurance companies is that workers have time during their shifts to eat and rest. But anyone who has been responsible for the full time care of another person knows that the “rest” you get while being on alert is far from restful, especially when you are on call day after day.
Organizers and workers have been pushing the New York State legislature for 12-hour shifts that don’t run back to back.
At hand are both lost wages -- and stolen time.
“It doesn't matter what is going on in your life. You might have a kid to take care of, or you might have an appointment with your kid’s teacher. You might have a doctor's appointment. It doesn’t matter,” said JoAnn Lum, an organizer with NMASS, the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops. “You’ve got to be there until somebody can relieve you.” And if no one shows up, the workers stay put.
As a condition of their work, they are 100% responsible for their client, Lum said.
“You never can completely relax or really sleep,” Lum told me. “You're always listening, always waiting to hear something that you need to get up to attend to.”
Home care workers have been organizing against the 24-hour shift through a campaign called Ain’t I A Woman: which calls out the fact that these workers are primarily women of color and immigrant women. Lum says the conditions home care workers face are a form of racist and sexist violence.
“This kind of violence, it just drains your health away every day,” Lum said. “It's so incremental.”
Home care workers experience a range of physical and mental health issues, as well as depression and anxiety. Their bodies become trained to stay alert. “People are not able to sleep because they’re used to being on call,” Lum said. Their relationships break down, and they lose connection with their families because of the long periods of time they spend at work. According to Ain’t I A Woman, their pay comes in at close to $7.50 an hour.
Margaret Lee, another organizer with the campaign, described her own mother’s experience as a home care worker in New York City in the 1990s. While her mother worked 12 hour shifts, she was able to go to community college and study for her nursing degree. When Lee told her mother about laws that allowed workers to be on duty for 24 hours, her mom expressed dismay, Lee said.
There’s no way her mother would have been able to accomplish what she had if those were her working conditions, Lee said.
By allowing these 24-hour shifts to remain legal, Lum told me, “There's no floor when it comes to robbing us: not for these women, not for any of us.” Denying pay to these women for 11 of their 24-hour shift “adds insult to injury,” Lum said.
The Ain’t I A Woman campaign organizes rallies, community health fairs and other events to increase awareness and put pressure on our state legislature.
Like Clara Lemlich and hundred of thousands of workers for the past hundred years, they are organized and organizing. Their calls for change are so far unanswered.
The Ain’t I A Woman campaign and the fight for expanded federal social policies are connected. They are fights for precious time: Time that we need to care for our families and for ourselves. They are fights to take care of the people who take care of us.
It’s worth remembering that we have had moments of transformation before, when workers in general and caregivers in particular have been given the support they need to thrive. But today’s news is grim, and the windows for change are closing fast.
Instagram: @matriarchyreport Twitter: @laneanderson @allisonlichter
Thank you for sharing this important information. I feel a sense of shame for my ignorance but I can now be a more motivated and informed advocate
Thanks for taking about this, Allison. I don't know why I am still shocked and horrified by human exploitation, but I am. Of course women of color and immigrants are being taken advantage of when it comes to care work. Was not aware of the 24 hour shift and not compensating hours worked! I was a home care worker in England and worked 24/7 in people's homes. It was totally demoralizing and exhausting and I'm so grateful I had the option to leave -- especially when others can't. Ain't I a Woman sounds like they are doing good work. I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this issue and all of those hard-working women. But as you say, the news is not looking good.