Quality Care Quality Jobs Lobby Day, Feb. 12

On February 12th, hundreds of caregivers will head to our state capitol to advocate for Quality Care and Quality Jobs! Will you join us? SEIU Healthcare is helping organize free bus transportation and carpools from across Washington. Click here to RSVP online, or download a printable flyer. Our issues this year are spelled out in our Quality Care,  Quality Jobs Agenda (pdf):

Justice for Nursing Home Workers!
The average starting wage for nursing home workers is way below a living wage, and few nursing home workers can afford health benefits. The problem is especially bad at nursing homes which care for Medicaid residents who are poor. SEIU Healthcare 775NW is in coalition with providers, community organizations and advocates to support funding dedicated to improving wages and benefits at nursing homes that primarily serve low-income residents.

Improve Training and Offer Advancement Opportunities for In-Home Care
Caregivers have wanted training on issues specific to the needs of our own clients, and to be recognized and have opportunities to advance in health care occupations. Last year the Legislature established a Long-Term Care Worker Training Workgroup, to propose a new training standard, curriculum, and certification process for home and community-based long-term care workers. A majority of Workgroup members supported an 85 hour standard and a certification process, and key stakeholders like AARP, Alzheimers Association, Residents Council, and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman support a consistent standard for all state-paid caregivers. The new training requirements will not be mandatory for current caregivers. We are working with community colleges to create special training facilities, so caregivers can receive training in a “classroom” that’s more like a client’s home.

Let Adult Family Home Workers Unite Together
Adult family home workers provide home and community-based care in the same way that agency and IP home care workers do, but these workers make low wages with few benefits. Home care workers united in our union have improved wages by more than 30% and won health care for all workers who work at least half time. We support legislation that makes it possible for the direct care employees in Adult Family Homes to unite together as well.

Hold Home Care Agencies Accountable
While most home care agencies across the State are responsible employers who provide high quality care to client consumers, some agencies engage in irresponsible practices. For example, some have a history of flagrant violation of wage and hour laws; others “poach” family providers, charging the state an extra $5/hr without providing any additional value. We are working with responsible agencies, especially our union employers, to ensure quality standards for contracting to home care agencies.

Hold Non-Profit Nursing Homes Accountable
The Legislature’s audit committee (JLARC) wrote “...for-profit nursing homes have traditionally had a higher percentage of total revenue from low-income Medicaid patients...[but]the data do not support the premise that the non-profit nursing homes are serving more low-income patients...” So-called not-for-profit nursing homes that are making a profit should pay taxes and the non-profit tax exemption should only apply to nursing homes that have a high percentage of low-income Medicaid residents.

Create More Options for DD Consumers, and A Voice For DD Workers
We support creating a self-directed option for consumers of Supportive Living services. This legislation would establish 100 new Medicaid waiver slots to give individuals with developmental disabilities the option to hire, fire, and direct the work of their own independent Supported Living provider(s). The program would also establish collective bargaining rights for these workers, which would help improve wages and benefits and stabilize this workforce. It could also save state and federal funds over the long term since the cost of individual provider programs is lower than agency-based programs.

Solve the Crisis in Long Term Care
Over the next twenty years as the baby boomer age, the need for - and the cost - of long-term care will skyrocket. We’re working with long-term care stakeholders on a social insurance model to protect the State against the rising cost of long-term care and protect middle-class families from having to bankrupt themselves in order to afford care. Long-term care workers

Working Families Need Health Care
More than 600,000 Washingtonians don’t have healthcare, and the costs are skyrocketing for working families. We support bold action to address the growing health care crisis. We are working with the Healthy Washington Coalition to support measures to give the Insurance Commissioner authority over proposed rate increases; to restrict pharmaceutical companies from buying your doctors’ records for marketing purposes; and to help small businesses provide health care for low-wage workers.

Increase Tax Fairness for Working Families - Support OUR Tax Break
Washington’s tax system is fundamentally unfair – the wealthiest pay only 3% of their income in state and local taxes, while low-income families pay 17% of their income. Meanwhile, there are more than 500 tax loopholes that give a break to wealthy corporations. SEIU Healthcare 775NW supports a Washington Working Families Credit – a state add-on to the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit. A credit equal to 10% of the federal EITC would provide $53 million in tax cuts to low-income families.

Make Property Taxes More Fair
Lower income homeowners currently pay a much larger share of their household earnings in property taxes (6%) than higher income households (2.8%). A property tax “circuit breaker” would protect low and moderate income homeowners if their property taxes rise above a certain percentage (for example, 5%) of their household income, in much the same way that a home’s circuit breaker protects a home from electrical overload.

Stop Predatory Lenders
Predatory lending companies prey on low-wage workers and military families by charging as much as 400% APR for payday loans. The Pentagon recently convinced the Republican Congress to protect military families and cap the interest rate for these loans. SEIU Healthcare 775NW supports capping the interest rate for payday loans and other measures that genuinely protect consumers against predatory lenders. (Factoid: there are more payday lenders in our state than there are McDonalds restaurants!)

Help Immigrants Become Part of Our Communities
SEIU Healthcare 775NW supports the New Americans Initiative, which works toward connecting legal permanent residents directly to the information and services they need to become citizens. The Initiative would allocate $2M/year for three years to encourage and facilitate citizenship and would establish a Statewide Policy Council to provide recommendations on how to better integrate immigrants into our communities through education, citizenship rights, civic rights, fair housing, health care, language proficiency and job training.