Erie County Majority Leader April N. M. Baskin joined Home Care Workers and Healthcare Workers Rising and marched through the streets of Buffalo on Wednesday to declare they are “Invisible No More.” Rallying to bring attention to the troubling state of home care, Legislator Baskin expressed her support for the healthcare providers’ demands for fair wages, benefits and work schedules.

 “These healthcare workers take tremendous pride in their work caring for patients.  However they feel trapped in poverty, living paycheck to paycheck. Most home care providers in the City of Buffalo make just above the minimum wage of $10.40 an hour,” said Majority Leader Baskin. “Anyone that helps care for our sick, elderly, disabled or otherwise homebound should not need to expend additional energy worrying about how to keep a roof over their own head and how to keep food on their table. I stand with them in their fight for fair pay.”

Healthcare Workers Rising is a grassroots effort to transform the home care industry across Western New York. They are calling for wage increases to $15 an hour and the creation of a union.