The economy as it is now runs on exploiting all workers at the bottom- we desperately need new systems with new incentives- I used to work at a human service agency and know this issue. Pay is also low because society doesn’t care about the people these women care for. Society believes people with intellectual/developmental disabilities are unproductive etc. if we solved for everyone’s wellbeing- if wellbeing of workers/clients/families was the incentive- we’d have different systems.
Here’s where common sense feminist thought and labor intersect: bosses won’t pay nothing more than starvation wages for women’s work because their mamas did that work for free and that’s all it’s worth to them. Hate hate hate!
Vulnerable workers such as these workers in health and personal care should be entitled to interest arbitration on impasse in bargaining. Equivalent workers in Canada have this right. The interest arbitration outcomes typically mirror the comparative standard across the industry for similar work, which would have the effect of improving these workers' wages and terms of employment.
Employers don’t pay these people because they don’t respect the work these people do, but what is unsaid is they actually don’t respect the people their employees serve. People with disabilities, mental illness, and the poor generally are often see as annoyances, and best ignored if at all possible. People doing this work are looked at as having no valuable skills, just an ability to endure the hard work it takes to serve people who can have a variety of disadvantages. The workers understand developing a relationship with those they care for is crucial. Developing a relationship in a social service setting is a skill that has gone unrecognized for decades. A reason this injustice is decades old is because this country continues to only value individuals according to what they can contribute financially and economically, not in the capacity for concern and compassion.
I’ve never made twenty dollars an hour in my life unless I was waiting tables or bartending 🤷♀️
Traditionally, support staff is a low paying position. If it were up to me I’d pay her forty dollars an hour. The work she does is important in my opinion, even if the paying institution doesn’t.
Thank you for writing about this. The ruthless garbage that are now working to destroy this country don't care about anybody who can't stuff their pockets with money, no matter how much they talk about "God". Your article rips off the golden robe and shames the rot underneath.
I think I've said before here that the most I've ever gotten paid out of all my direct care work was as a veterinary technician. The least was taking care of residents with dementia and related conditions. When I worked with preschoolers the pay was less than the veterinary work but the child to staff ratio reflected the age of each classroom and was pretty strictly enforced. With the memory care units there was essentially no enforced resident to staff ratio (there was a number but it wasn't followed and there was really nothing you could do about it). Doing the work wasn't even what sucked about any of those jobs. It was seeing how little value what you did had to anyone else. The individuals you're caring for appreciate you to the extent that they're capable of understanding where they are and why you're there. Even people who I did not especially enjoy taking care of for whatever reason, it's physical, intimate, necessary work. Absolutely gender plays a very large role here but racism plays an equally large role. It takes both on top of the cultural dismissal of empathy as a positive trait.
The economy as it is now runs on exploiting all workers at the bottom- we desperately need new systems with new incentives- I used to work at a human service agency and know this issue. Pay is also low because society doesn’t care about the people these women care for. Society believes people with intellectual/developmental disabilities are unproductive etc. if we solved for everyone’s wellbeing- if wellbeing of workers/clients/families was the incentive- we’d have different systems.
It's funny because non-productive workers are the highest paid in this culture
Haha! Indeed. I guess it depends on who controls the narrative- and I’m assuming you mean people at the top- Bezos etc.
It's a vast paper doll chain... With lots of Patagonia vests
Dear god, under $20/hour in New York City. That's borderline criminal.
Here’s where common sense feminist thought and labor intersect: bosses won’t pay nothing more than starvation wages for women’s work because their mamas did that work for free and that’s all it’s worth to them. Hate hate hate!
Vulnerable workers such as these workers in health and personal care should be entitled to interest arbitration on impasse in bargaining. Equivalent workers in Canada have this right. The interest arbitration outcomes typically mirror the comparative standard across the industry for similar work, which would have the effect of improving these workers' wages and terms of employment.
Employers don’t pay these people because they don’t respect the work these people do, but what is unsaid is they actually don’t respect the people their employees serve. People with disabilities, mental illness, and the poor generally are often see as annoyances, and best ignored if at all possible. People doing this work are looked at as having no valuable skills, just an ability to endure the hard work it takes to serve people who can have a variety of disadvantages. The workers understand developing a relationship with those they care for is crucial. Developing a relationship in a social service setting is a skill that has gone unrecognized for decades. A reason this injustice is decades old is because this country continues to only value individuals according to what they can contribute financially and economically, not in the capacity for concern and compassion.
I’ve never made twenty dollars an hour in my life unless I was waiting tables or bartending 🤷♀️
Traditionally, support staff is a low paying position. If it were up to me I’d pay her forty dollars an hour. The work she does is important in my opinion, even if the paying institution doesn’t.
Thank you for writing about this. The ruthless garbage that are now working to destroy this country don't care about anybody who can't stuff their pockets with money, no matter how much they talk about "God". Your article rips off the golden robe and shames the rot underneath.
Thanks for this
I think I've said before here that the most I've ever gotten paid out of all my direct care work was as a veterinary technician. The least was taking care of residents with dementia and related conditions. When I worked with preschoolers the pay was less than the veterinary work but the child to staff ratio reflected the age of each classroom and was pretty strictly enforced. With the memory care units there was essentially no enforced resident to staff ratio (there was a number but it wasn't followed and there was really nothing you could do about it). Doing the work wasn't even what sucked about any of those jobs. It was seeing how little value what you did had to anyone else. The individuals you're caring for appreciate you to the extent that they're capable of understanding where they are and why you're there. Even people who I did not especially enjoy taking care of for whatever reason, it's physical, intimate, necessary work. Absolutely gender plays a very large role here but racism plays an equally large role. It takes both on top of the cultural dismissal of empathy as a positive trait.