Congressman Jamaal Bowman lays out his 'Care For All Agenda'.
With many local elected officials, health care workers, and advocates with him Congressman Jamaal Bowman announced his resolution to strengthen and expand the care economy and conditions for care workers amid the pandemic.
Care is the foundation of our economy and society — the work that makes all other work possible. But just as our physical infrastructure is crumbling, we suffer from a lack of functioning care infrastructure in the United States, endangering the health, safety, and well-being of the American people. The resolution calls for far-reaching public investments to build that missing, holistic infrastructure, to guarantee the care people need at all stages of life, and to treat caregivers and care workers with the dignity they deserve. It also puts care in the context of the broader social infrastructure we will require to support our recovery from the pandemic; help us tackle the underlying crises that made it so deadly, and that threaten our collective future; and to secure the material, developmental, emotional, and social needs of all people.
The congressman and others who spoke pointed out some of the disparities home care workers face when compared to other workers. The lack of paid family leave, costs of child care and health care, that most care workers are people of color and immigrants who are paid less because of that, and this is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States.
Congressman Bowman's resolution calls for acknowledging and addressing the problems faced by caregivers and care workers, investing in a universal public program which would guarantee high quality health care, child care, and paid family/medical leave. Raising the pay nationwide, providing benefits, protections, and standards for all care workers including unionism. Investing in a broader social infrastructure to prioritize the well being of all American people, and putting care investments at the center of our economic recovery shifting to a society based care for people, communities, and our planet we all share.
Above - State Senator Alessandra Biaggi speaks. Below - Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez speaks.
State Senator Jamaal Bailey (L) and Councilman Kevin Riley (R) stand on both sides of Congressman Jamaal Bowman with the Coop-City Dreiser Loop Plaza in the background.
