By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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America’s Fastest-Growing Profession is Joining a Very Public Fight for Higher Wages (WaPo)
Lydia DePillis looks at the differences in home health aides’ fight for “15 and a union” when compared to fast food workers. For one, most home health aides are paid by Medicaid. When a higher wage is also tied to state budgets, the fight gets more difficult.
Home health aides can’t entirely replicate the fast-food workers’ tactics. Unlike someone flipping burgers, they can’t just walk off the job: That would leave those they care for — the nation’s parents and grandparents — in danger. And crucially, although most low-wage workers battle big corporations, home health-care workers usually are dealing with a different beast: the state, which ultimately pays their wages.
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