The Direct Care News     transparent logo, white type
For direct care workers and their allies
 
March 5, 2013

Another Step Closer to Respect           

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Tracy Dudzinski
Last Friday, on the first day of Women's History Month, I attended a meeting with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about the proposed rule to end the exclusion of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections. It has been 14 months since I stood behind the President when he announced the rule as one of his "we can't wait" initiatives. I hope my fellow home care workers and I won't have to wait much longer, now that the rule is with OMB for the last step in the review process.

The meeting started with a summary of why we were there. The OMB representative started asking questions, and you could tell she had been talking to people from groups that oppose the rule. Read more from Tracy.
Direct from Washington, D.C.
Capitol HIll "Sequester" spending cuts take effect: On Friday, March 1, across-the-board automatic federal spending cuts known as sequestration went into effect because the U.S. Congress failed to come to an agreement on how to reduce the national deficit. The $85 billion in cuts apply to defense and non-defense domestic programs, including public health, workforce training, public safety and education programs.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the sequester could cost 750,000 jobs this year. The spending cuts will reduce the availability of essential services and supports that millions of low-income people--like direct care workers and their families--depend on. Learn more about the sequester and its impact on jobs and middle class families in your state.
New York Times Urges the President to Do Right by Home Care Workers
A February 28 New York Times editorial pulled no punches in urging President Obama to extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers.

It has been more than a year since President Obama announced that the proposed rule would guarantee those rights, ending the classification of home care workers as mere "companions" and therefore ineligible for FLSA protections, the editorial notes, and "There is a real danger that in this late round the long fight to extend basic labor protections to home care workers could be lost. That would be a great injustice." Read more and link to the editorial.

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Direct from the Headlines
Pennsylvania's auditor general is auditing the state's contract with a vendor that failed to provide timely paychecks to direct-care workers across the state and throughout the Erie region.

A New Hampshire agency owner on how home care aides can help control health care costs while allowing elders to stay safe and healthy in their own homes.
 
A Minnesota home care worker on how a home care union could benefit her fellow home care workers and the people they care for.

A Minnesota court overturned a state law that kept some personal caregivers from collecting unemployment.
The Direct Care Alliance is the national advocacy voice of direct care workers in long-term care. We empower workers to speak out for better wages, benefits, respect, and working conditions, so more people can commit to direct care as a career. We also convene powerful allies nationwide to build consensus for change. 

If you have comments on this issue of The Direct Care News or ideas for future issues, please contact Elise Nakhnikian at 646-823-7434, enakhnikian@directcarealliance.org.