Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in the Orange County Register, a newspaper in Anaheim, California.
An out-of-state organization called the Freedom Foundation is targeting workers in Orange County, including low-wage caregivers like me. They claim to help caregivers by educating us about our rights, but their true agenda is to gut unions and rollback basic worker protections. …
Many caregivers are used to being strong advocates to secure services for our loved ones. But there are critical aspects of my daughter’s care that I am not able to protect as an individual. And that is why I joined my union, United Domestic Workers of America. …
What I gained when I joined UDW was a voice. Together we are 100,000 home care workers advocating for our clients’ needs on a larger scale. Together we are heard, and being heard gives us freedom — freedom to provide a good life for our families, freedom to take care of our neighbors and loved ones, and freedom to protect the (In-Home Supportive Services) IHSS program so that seniors and people with disabilities have access to the quality in-home care.