WorkWeek looks at the crisis caused by the growing fires in Northern California. Thousands of working people and their families have lost their homes and their livelyhoods as a result of the Sonoma, Napa and Solano county fires. We talk with Jack Buckhorn who is the Executive Director of the North Bay Labor Council. We also talk with Carroll Wills, communication director of California Professional Firefighters Unon. He also discusses the dangers of cancer and other illnesses that firefighters face.
Next, WorkWeek looks at the need for long term care and the protection of homecare workers who take care of our elderly. Long Term Care has been excluded from the Medicare for all bill introduced in the Senate by Bernie Sanders and we talk with Anne Scheetz who is with the Physicians for National Healthcare and Physicians for National Healthcare. We also talk with San Francisco SEIU 2015 homecare worker Bradley Wiedmaier who is also a delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council.
In California, there are 400,000 homecare workers and many do not even get social security if they live with their client or are family members taking care of their family. With an aging population, the issue of bringing homecare workers into a national healthcare system is critical.
There is growing support for national healthcare and single payer. Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would expand medicare into a universal healthcare system. It was co-sponsored by 15 Democrats in Congress including Senator Kamala Harris.
For more info:
www.facebook.com/northbaylaborcouncil/
www.cpf.org/go/cpf/
healthaffairs.org/blog/2017/09/14/…re-for-all-bill/
Ilsinglepayer.org/Article/Troubled…ayer-Health-Care
www.pnhp.org
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