The nation’s leading spokesman for the US nursing home sector recently made an interesting observation about what might be called the current plight of many frontline workers in long-term care.
“There are thousands of undocumented workers in our buildings who actually have to work under artificial names,” noted Mark Parkinson, the president and CEO of the American Health Care Association. He did so while making remarks after accepting the Career Achievement Award at the 2024 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards ceremony.
The reason for this practice, he explained, can be linked to several factors. They include bizarre immigration rules, massive labor challenges in the industry — and for those who literally do the heavy lifting —harsh economic necessity.
Not that any of this will be much of a surprise to anyone who has been paying even casual attention.
Undocumented workers can be found in virtually every field, especially those where the stamina to continuously perform grueling physical tasks is, well, part of the job..
Employers at skilled care settings, restaurants and elsewhere get reliable, non-complaining employees to work longer hours for less pay than would otherwise be possible. And as for those doing the labor, the relatively meager wages are typically far more than they might be able to earn in their native countries.
But by any reasonable measure, it’s usually a pretty raw deal for the undocumented workers. If they are treated harshly, threatened, abused, shortchanged or worse, it’s not like they can go to HR and file a complaint. Or call their congressman and demand a fix.
They are in the country illegally and have zero leverage. None. They are often treated accordingly. Based on what’s being spewed on many news outlets and by their talking heads, you’d think these people are, as one presidential candidate described them, vermin.
Look, our immigration laws are deeply flawed. They need to be fixed. But to blame people doing work that most Americans refuse to do for less money as the real problem? That is simply inaccurate. Vermin? In all too many cases, more like victims.
