Officials support work force council

County commissioners backed the council in a letter to state officials.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Lawrence County has become the first in the state to support formation of a council to promote better pay and benefits for home health-care workers.

A Consumer Workforce Council would help bring about a stable work force of home-care aides by negotiating a decent living for those workers, advocates have said.

The council would negotiate with the state for reimbursements for better pay, health benefits and vacations. It also would create a registry of workers and their special areas of knowledge.

“It is our belief the Consumer Workforce Council can help bring a better quality of life to those consumers who desire to direct their own care at home and to those workers providing such care,” commissioners wrote in a letter to John Michael Hall, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, in February.

The letter also was sent to Estelle B. Richman, Department of Public Welfare, and Sandi Vito, secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry.

Advocates are trying to bring the council into existence through an intergovernmental agreement rather than through the legislative process, because doing so won’t take as long, said Bob Stoner, communications director of the Disability Options Network Services in New Castle.

They need four counties to support it, he said, adding that network services advocates also intend to approach commissioners in Butler, Mercer and possibly Beaver counties. He did not know when.

Other advocates are working throughout the state, notably in the Philadelphia area, he has said.