New York City faith leaders and homecare workers gathered to support the fight for a wage increase for people who care for the elderly and disabled this Thursday, at the 1199SEIU headquarters in Manhattan.

Anna Couch, a home care worker for 19 years, wants home health aides to be paid what they are worth. As she said in Spanish, “We deserve a permanent salary. We have been working on this for years, and they don’t pay us as they should.” She went on to say, “We have to pay rent, medicines, transportation, and food, and what they are paying us is not enough.”

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. government increased unemployment and gave taxpayers stimulus checks; some companies gave bonuses to their workers to thank them for their work during the challenging time.

Although this money prevented much hardship, Couch demands something more. “We want to be included in this year’s budget. So, we are asking for $20 or more per hour so that we can be calmer about paying for a roof,” said Couch, who at the moment makes $15 per hour, the minimum wage in New York City.

In every religion caring for one another is one of the strongest pillars. NYC clergy members showed their support through prayers and blessings. “I’m here to support you financially and spiritually,” were the words of community activist and Imam Shahbaz Ahmad Chishti, an Islamic prayer leader. 

Executive Director at New York State Council of Churches, the Reverend Peter Cook, said that his parents were at an age where they needed assistive care. “They want to stay in their homes. But when the very people who can make this path possible are not paid a living wage, it’s an injustice to our parents and to the people who care for them,” said Rev. Cook.

Rabbi Guy Austrian addressed an emotional prayer to the workers. “We ask your blessing on those in need of care and on those who give care,” Austrian said as he finished his prayer.

These community activists and workers also addressed words to New York State’s first female governor, Kathy Hochul. “We are all women here, mostly women of color. So how could you stand up to be proud to be the first governor of New York who is a woman and not fund fair pay for homeworkers?” said Bobbie Sackman, campaign leader at N.Y. Caring Majority.

“One of these days, it will be her turn, and she’ll need us. So, I hope she thinks this through and keeps it in the back of her mind,” said Couch.

One in every five New Yorkers will be 60 or older by 2040. Yet the nation is struggling with elder care.

There are 49 million working family caregivers in this country who care for an aging loved one or a family member with a disability, according to Ai-Jen Poo, executive director at National Domestic Workers Alliance who spoke at a virtual City University of New York conference on Thursday. Many of these people are trying to manage work at the same time, and there’s nothing in place in our country to support them.

It starts with home care workers, mostly women, who do not make a living wage. The average salary in Brooklyn is $14.84 an hour according to Indeed.com. In some other states it’s as low as $8 an hour.

“Imagine trying to support yourself and pay the bills, let alone raise a family on $18,200 a year in a place like New York,” said Poo.

Many home care workers eventually leave that position to earn more money elsewhere and even those that work at nursing homes quit, leaving the homes understaffed and overworked. This does not create the best atmosphere for both the elderly and employees.

J. Phillip Thompson, Professor of Political Science and Urban Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology told those at the conference, “All of these of these elders who have given us their lives are living in the most undignified conditions, supported by a workforce that is given absolutely untenable responsibility to care for dozens of people every hour. It’s literally impossible.”

There is also the issue in New York where private equity firms are buying nursing homes because they want the real estate, so they can sell off the property and build luxury condos.

In 2012, the state wanted to closedown Interfaith Medical Center in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn because it was losing money. They were losing money because the Medicaid reimbursement rates are low.

The state was going to shut it down and a community labor coalition got together weekly for years. They asked Thompson for help to advise them on how not to get the hospital shutdown. They were able to save 1,000 jobs and able to keep the hospital open in a community where there are a lot of sick people.

“It would have been far worse,” Thompson said, if the hospital had been shut down prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There has been progress made lately as President Joe Biden spoke about caregiving as being one his core pillars. In Washington State the Service Employees International Union built a strong workers union there. The University of Washington has trained 40,000 home care workers a year and in 12 different languages. The hourly rage has also increased to $17 an hour.

“It’s a starting salary, and they’ve come a long way and it gives you a sense of this is possible. We can do this,” Poo continued “We actually need each other and you can see it in our own homes, the way we rely on each other across class, across race, across community when it comes to care.”