Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez has been writing recently on the financial costs of long-term care, whether in the home or a “senior living” setting. It is part of his series of “Golden State” columns on California’s aging population. Today, however, he has reversed the lens, and talks about the impact of the need for care on low-wage workers. He writes:
I’ve been in homes where the caregivers are U.S. citizens with decent wages and benefits, and I’ve been in homes where the workers are undocumented and paid less than the minimum wage ($16.04 an hour in the city of Los Angeles) in cash. It’s a wink-and-nod system, much like farm labor, in which cheap labor is prized over any other consideration.
“It’s very much a legacy of slavery and a history in this country of not valuing the work done by … people of color,” said attorney Yvonne Medrano, who heads the employee rights program at Bet Tzedek Legal Services.
Several weeks ago I reached out to the the Pilipino Workers Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit that has been educating domestic workers on their rights and leading a fight against a system in which labor laws are often ignored and workers — many of them old enough to be receiving elder care themselves — are cheated and exploited.
Aquilina Soriano Versoza, the center’s director, said research indicates a majority of clients appreciate the care they get and would be willing to pay more for it, but many can’t afford to.
For a more complete picture, read They Take Care of Aging Adults, Live in Cramped Quarters, and Make Less than MInimum Wage from the Los Angeles Times.