RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - Advocates pushed for collective bargaining rights and higher wages for Virginia caregivers Tuesday, arguing the measures are needed to meet the state's climbing demand.
Virginia currently has 28,000 caregivers, but according to the Paraprofessional Health Institute, that number will need to more than quadruple to care for the estimated 124,000 home care workers needed in 2032 to meet growing workforce needs. Advocates with the Service Employees International Union claim that low wages are holding potential caregivers back and leading to high turnover.
Chair of SEIU Virginia 512's Home Care Chapter Executive Board, Athena Jones, said that society often overlooks caregivers despite the role they play.
"Despite how essential we are in health care and within the commonwealth, we are too often treated like we are invisible," Jones said. "We're a part of the system that allows people to be able to go to work, allows industries to thrive, allows opportunities where there may not be because the support isn't there. But how are we treated? Home care workers are often forgotten."
Kate Olson, an employee of the Arc of Virginia, which advocates for people with developmental disabilities, and a care recipient for Williams Syndrome, spoke about the importance of caregivers.
"Me and my friends need services so we can live a life like yours," Olson said. "We want the same things as everybody else, a good life, a full life, a life of choices."
The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services set the rate for most state home care workers at $13.88 per hour, while those in Northern Virginia, a wealthy Washington, DC, suburb, make $17.97 per hour. Jones said neither is enough.
"Low wages, lack of proper health care, lack of an opportunity, not just to build a life and create a life for someone else, but you're not able to build and create a life for yourself, because at $13.88 an hour, how are you able to survive and thrive?" Jones asked.
The advocates support legislation from State Senator Scott Surrovel and Delegate Kathy Tran, both Democrats, that would allow state employees to participate in collective bargaining. Under current law, local governments can bargain collectively with their employees upon adopting an authorizing ordinance or resolution. The law, passed in 2020, excluded state-level employees, higher education workers and state-paid contractors.
Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed similar legislation in 2025 after it narrowly passed through the state senate 21-19. A fiscal impact report for the 2025 bill estimated that it would cost the Department of Medical Assistance Services nearly $1 million in fiscal year 2027 to implement the bill's provisions. Critics argue the effort will ultimately hurt workers through higher taxes.
"The legislation represents a fundamental shift in employment policy in the Commonwealth of Virginia that would threaten the funding and delivery of critical state and local services and will collectively cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year," Youngkin said in a statement explaining his decision. "Furthermore, the bill lacks a funding mechanism for implementation, leaving agencies unprepared to manage the administrative and legal complexities involved.
Advocates are hopeful lawmakers will pass the legislation this session as Democrats control the legislature and the governor's mansion. If passed, the bill creates the Public Employee Relations Board, which it tasks with determining bargaining units and conducting certification elections for bargaining representatives.
The advocates also take umbrage with the state code that caps the number of hours a home care worker can work at 16 per day. They claim the cap fails to account for the reality that caring for older adults and the disabled is often a job that requires assistance 24 hours a day. Further, they argue the cap is unfair to family members who live with those they are caring for and are paid through state programs.
Tonya Miller, executive director of the Arc of Virginia, said a federal injunction uniquely situates Virginia following the Justice Department's 2011 lawsuit against the state for failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. An investigation found Virginia improperly stuck those with intellectual and developmental disabilities in large hospital-like facilities, called training centers. The Justice Department argued that hospital-type settings qualify as segregated facilities, which is frowned upon under the ADA.
Virginia entered into a 12-year settlement agreement, where it promised to expand community-based services through the funding of 11 priorities, including creating a statewide crisis system and assisting individuals to gain access to needed medical, social, education, transportation, housing, nutritional, therapeutic, behavioral, psychiatric, nursing and personal care. After finding that Virginia failed to comply with the settlement in 2024, a federal court issued a permanent injunction requiring Virginia's compliance.
"Virginia is the only state in the nation under a federal court order requiring lawmakers to invest in home and community-based services at a time when states across the country are facing pressure from potential federal Medicaid cuts," Miller said. "Virginia has a clear obligation to make the promise of the permanent injunction real."
Miller said Youngkin's proposed budget addresses only seven of the 11 priorities and omits funding for personal care and nursing.
"How often do you look around and realize that you're not considered as an equal in comparison to anyone else," Jones said as she looked at caregivers in attendance. "The system says that we are needed, but they're not willing to compensate us as if we are needed. That's a problem."
Source: Courthouse News Service
