Your Turn
At a time when our Florida politics are so often polarized, paralyzed along party lines, today we can celebrate an act of collaboration and understanding that will greatly benefit some of our most deserving workers here in Leon County and across the state.
Due largely to the leadership of Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson, the state legislature passed a budget including funds to pay nursing home workers a minimum wage of $15 per hour, effective this October 1.
Simpson, a member of a GOP that otherwise has been far less than friendly to working Floridians, took bold action to stand with caregivers and staff who play such an important societal role caring for our elderly loved ones. Sadly, so many of these dedicated workers have previously toiled for poverty-level wages, taking extra shifts, second jobs and more just to scrape by.
But thanks to Simpson, and of course our steady progressive champions in the Florida Capitol and throughout our communities, these essential workers at area nursing homes see a pathway out of poverty and won’t have to worry so desperately each week about paying their bills.
Jennifer Tribert, for example, has worked in the housekeeping/laundry department of a nursing facility in Simpson’s district for six years, including the last three on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic that raged through nursing homes here in Leon County and all areas of the state.
And yet, she still does not make $15 per hour, nor does she receive medical...
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