On Monday, June 24, former Deaconess employees and workers from other agencies in Milwaukee will meet with top state lawmakers to discuss their concerns for the homecare industry in the city.
In April Deaconess Home Health came under investigation by the state for possible fraud, and it shut down abruptly without paying its employees the wages they were owed. Those employees rallied and filed wage complaints, but they’re not done drawing attention to their plight and the plight of other home health care workers.
“A major problem for homecare workers is that we face the same issues everywhere we go,” said Sarah Ruiz, a former Deaconess worker who plans to attend the discussion on Monday. “I was fortunate to find another agency, but I still barely make enough money to survive, and I definitely don’t feel fairly compensated for the care I provide.” Ruiz will discuss her concerns with Democratic State Sens. Chris Larson and Nikiya Harris, along with Democratic State Reps. Chris Sinicki, LaTonya Johnson, Sandy Pasch, Mandela Barnes, Evan Goyke, Josh Zepnick, and Fred Kessler.
Here are the details on the event:
WHAT: Roundtable discussion on the state of the homecare industry in Milwaukee
WHERE: Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W Vliet St.
WHEN: Monday, June 24 5:00 P.M.
WHO: Sen. Chris Larson, Sen. Nikiya Harris, Rep. Mandela Barnes, Rep. Sandy Pasch, Rep. LaTonya Johnson, Rep. Christine Sinicki, Rep. Evan Goyke, Rep. Josh Zepnick, Rep. Fred Kessler, and workers from multiple Milwaukee homecare agencies.
I first went to work at 14 yrs in a Dairy Queen stand twisting cones and making milk shakes for 35 cents an hour. although I was a good cone twister and seldom had a cone flop over, not even the tall 15 cent ones, the manager still managed to find fault with my work.
However that experience enabled me to get a job at another frozen cluster stand for 45 cents an hour and just down the block from my home. I soon began closing up for the owner at two in the morning and was proud of the trust he had in me although he always came in the next morning and counted all the cups and cones to make sure the money matched the inventory missing.
At sixteen, tipped by my mother, I found a job as a part time shoe clerk, applying just before the big post July 4th sales. This job was 55 cents and hour plus 10% commission. The chain store on main street carried the full range of women’s sizes from c to quad a widths in 5 to 10 lengths (women had smaller feet in those days). This forced me to learn how to measure and fit shoes properly. Nevertheless women often insisted that they wore, for instance, a 7B and definitely NOT a 9 triple A no matter how bad their bunions were or their feet hurt after wearing high heel pumps. This experience helped me land an assistant manager job with another shoe chain out of state. So I left college and the part time job to marry and raise a family. When I decided that the shoe business was not for me, (we were only provided with B or medium width shoes for adults and children and I could no longer fit quite a few properly) I decided to bring my family back to Memphis and finish college, but upon telling my former manager that–whose store still carried all sizes–he refused to hire me even knowing I could help increase store sales significantly.
I tell you this to emphasize the disparity between management and labor in this county. Attitudes of every man or woman for themselves is engrained in this culture and the golden rule is seldom followed. This is why I’m so discouraged by the left’s war with religion supported by the main stream media. e.g. on June 9th there was a demonstration by tens of thousand hasidic jews in Manhattan protesting the State of Isreal…not covered by anybody. Surely this is news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY6nL06qYts