People who care for the elderly are essential workers. It’s long past time to start treating them right
By Heather Scoffield
“COVID has revealed where the problems are and where the changes need to be,” says Michael Nicin, executive director of the National Institute on Aging. Increased unionization will likely help improving wages and conditions, he said, and the unions are indeed already pushing hard. But there’s also a need to look at why people with similar jobs in hospitals are paid so much more, and work with better protective gear. There’s demand for change on the client side of the equation as well.