One week after the city's ticker-tape parade to show appreciation for front-line workers, home care workers rallied for better wages to reflect the sacrifices they say they make every day.

"We love what we do, but we need to be paid better,” said Lilieth Clacken.

What You Need To Know

  • Members of 1199SEIU marched in support of the president's Better Care, Better Jobs Act

  • One of the goals of the proposed $400 billion investment in Medicaid Home and Community Based Services is to improve wages for home care workers who make roughly $12 an hour nationwide

  • The march comes one week after the city's-ticker tape parade for front-line workers who stayed on the job throughout the worst of the pandemic

Clacken and other members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East marched in support of the president's Better Care, Better Jobs Act, a $400 billion investment in Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). 

One goal of the proposed legislation is to improve wages for home health aides and other care workers, who, on average, make roughly $12 an hour.

"These workers have been undervalued,” said Rona Shapiro, the union's executive vice president. "The role they play in their client's lives is crucial and in order for them to continue to be home care workers they need to be able to pay their bills." 

The march past City Hall comes after the city's parade in honor of hometown heroes, front-line workers who stayed on the job during the worst of the pandemic. Many at the march tended to the city's elderly and other vulnerable residents.

"You were there, no matter how tough it was, you showed up,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a rally held before the march.

Lilieth Clacken hopes for action from Congress that would lift many who provide essential care out of poverty.

"As much as we're heroes, we need to be compensated,” said Clacken. "Every single day people reach 65-years-old. We all get old and even if we don't get old, we all are in need of care, and so this in an industry that will never die, and so we should get what we deserve.”