Home Care Workers Gather to Protest Board of Supervisors over Wage Increase

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Home care workers are calling on the LA County Board of Supervisors to give them a wage increase promised to them last year. Several dozen workers from across the county gathered Tuesday outside the Board of Supervisors' meeting at the Civic Center, holding signs that read "keep your promise."

The workers are represented by the United Long Term Care Workers union and are upset that they have not received the remaining 15 cents of a wage increase. The LA County Board of Supervisors approved a living wage of $9.65 last June, but the workers are only getting $9.50 per hour.

Jorge Garcia has been a home care worker for 14 years. He cares for his mother and two people with autism.

“You know those 15 cents are very important because just this month I couldn’t make my rent," Garcia said. "We have to pay bills, I mean we battle, I mean it’s true. I mean right now in my pocket I have two dollars.”

There are about 130,000 home care workers in LA county who are responsible for taking care of the disabled and elderly.

“They’re giving us $9.50 but that’s not a living wage. A living wage is $9.65 and even that isn’t enough," Lori John Brown, a care worker from Whittier said. "The work we do is 24/7. We don’t stop, we don’t have vacations, we don’t have sick days, we don’t have holidays. You know they sleep at night and we get woken up at night.”

This is the second time this month workers are protesting the supervisors. Union workers say they will continue to show up outside the supervisors' meetings until they receive the $9.65 wage.

The Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday to discuss the living wage in a closed session. They were not available for comment.