At meetings in KC and elsewhere, home health workers call for higher pay

At $15 an hour, the average home health worker would get an annual raise of $8,000 and a livable wage, according to speakers at a noon gathering Thursday at the Kansas City Health Department, 2400 Troost Ave.

The meeting, one of about 20 held around the country, was part of a national wage campaign for home health workers. Home care aides across the country are participating with fast-food workers and other low-wage workers in the call for “$15 and a union.”

Workers at the Kansas City meeting were joined by various leaders from social justice organizations.

Bob Minor, chairman of the Kansas City Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board, said current wages for home health workers were “exploitive.”

The median pay in that wage group is $9.57 an hour, but part-time hours common in the industry produce annual median earnings of $17,000.

A recent report by the National Employment Law Project indicated that 1.9 million home care workers would get a raise if their base pay was raised to $15 an hour.

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 9:52 AM with the headline "At meetings in KC and elsewhere, home health workers call for higher pay."