Members of the California Alliance for Retired Americans and supporters from across the state gathered in Bakersfield to demand Speaker McCarthy leave Social Security and Medicare benefits alone.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Members of the California Alliance for Retired Americans, joined by supporters and advocates from around the state, hosted a protest at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Bakersfield office on Friday to demand that the federal government leave their Medicare and Social Security benefits alone.
Many seniors and people with disabilities rely on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits for health care and financial and retirement security. The protesters took to the streets, chanting “Hands off Social Security,” and Bakersfield senior resident Mary Helen Barro says they’re there to fight for their quality of life.
We paid for Social Security and Medicare all those years we been working. It’s not a freebie, it’s our money, and they’re trying to take it away from us,” said Barro. “Come on man, nah.”
Barro says this fight is not just for older Americans, but for all citizens.
“A lot of people don’t know this. They think Social Security is just for old people. No, a lot of young people with disabilities rely on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for their health care,” said Barro.
This is also true for the people of United Domestic Workers. Sydney O’Connor, an in-home supportive services provider, says these benefits are important to more people than just her client.
“If my client did not have Social Security, he wouldn’t be able to hire me as his IHSS provider, and I would be out of a job, and he wouldn’t have the care he needs to get by in the world,” said O’Connor.
Read more at turnto23.com.
As of the first of the year, the minimum wage in California has increased from $10 to $10.50 an hour. This increase is the first of many as the state’s minimum wage gradually goes up to $15 an hour. Read more here.
UDW caregivers in 14 counties including Alpine, Butte, Kern, Madera, Merced, Mono, Nevada, Orange, Plumas, San Diego, Sierra, Stanislaus, Sutter, and Tuolumne counties will see an improvement in our IHSS pay as a result of the new, higher minimum wage.
The minimum wage increase is no coincidence. UDW caregivers worked with other low wage workers to convince elected leaders to raise the wage, and lift California families out of poverty. And we won!
The minimum wage is scheduled to reach $15 by 2022, and in addition, the plan includes paid sick days for IHSS providers for the first time in history starting in 2018.
We will continue to celebrate this victory for working families, but we will not be complacent. UDW caregivers must continue to fight for more than minimum wage, because in-home care should not be a minimum wage job. The work we do is worth far more. That’s why UDW caregivers went All In for Care in 2016. We recommitted ourselves to the fight for wage and benefit improvements in UDW counties throughout the state, which you can read about here.
Click here to contact your local UDW office and find out how you too can go All In for Care.
Remember, no one IHSS provider can do it alone! Click here to join our work to increase IHSS provider pay in your county by becoming a member of UDW today.
