At a gathering of health care workers in Detroit on Thursday, certified nursing assistant Tamara Blue, fresh off a long shift the night prior, told the crowd a story that was familiar to them.
“I work two jobs. I’m a CNA in a nursing home and I’m a private caregiver, and I’m still struggling to buy basic things that I need to make it through day-to-day struggles,” Blue said.
The crowd murmured in understanding. “That’s right,” one attendee said.
Health care workers have been on the front lines for more than a year as Michigan deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, often putting in extra hours and risking bringing home the virus to themselves or their families. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for a certified nursing assistant in 2020 was $14.82 per hour.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday joined Blue and other workers at the event, calling for additional ‘hero pay’ for essential workers at a block party for health care workers in Detroit.
“Every day during this crisis we counted on our essential workers to take care of people in the greatest need,” Whitmer said.
She is supporting a pair of newly introduced resolutions from Sen. Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, and Rep. Cynthia Neeley, D-Flint, supporting the concept of additional pay. Those resolutions do not specify a dollar amount, and wouldn’t change law or appropriate money if adopted.
They call for using some of the federal money flowing into Michigan for the bonuses, and in a press release, the lawmakers cited previous examples of additional pay for essential workers, including the one-time $1,000 bonus for first responders earlier in the pandemic and the $2-per-hour wage hike for direct care workers who provide Medicaid-funded care.
Bullock and Neeley support “hero pay” that applies more broadly to other sectors, too.
“Essential workers are heroes who faced the COVID-19 pandemic with unbelievable strength and courage. These are people — from grocery stores, hospitals, schools, mass transit, and so many other industries — who went to work every day knowing they risked bringing home a deadly virus to their own families,” Bullock said.
Andrea Acevedo, president of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, said she was advocating for a lump-sum payment for essential workers.
“We feel that the legislature and the governor, we’re relying on them to work that out,” she said of what payment amount should be.
“But we feel whatever the highest available amount that is, they should get it.”
Whitmer is calling for lawmakers to appropriate federal COVID-19 funds that have come into the state, but not yet been spent by state government. The administration and lawmakers are working to appropriate that money.
More on MLive:
Michigan will end COVID-19 mask mandate, capacity limits early
Michigan lawmakers OK spending plan for billions in COVID-19 aid
8 West Michigan frontline workers honored for going ‘above and beyond’
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