Protect the Caregivers Who Protect the Patients
Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Patient Care Technicians (PCTs), PCAs, Nursing Assistants, and other direct-care support workers are essential members of America's healthcare system.

These workers provide some of the most demanding hands-on patient care: bathing, toileting, feeding, repositioning, transfers, mobility assistance, vital signs, incontinence care, answering call lights, safety rounds, and observing and reporting changes in patient condition.

Yet many direct-care workers continue to face inadequate wages, excessive patient assignments, chronic short staffing, workplace injuries, burnout, and a lack of recognition for years of experience.

We are calling for national minimum standards for fair compensation, safe staffing, teamwork, and workplace protection.

WE ARE ASKING FOR:
$30/HOUR MINIMUM BASE PAY
Establish a $30.00 per hour minimum base wage for CNAs/PCTs and comparable direct-care support workers.

Additional compensation should be paid on top of the base rate.

EXPERIENCE MUST PAY
Recognize qualifying years of direct-care experience:

More than 5 years: +$6/hour

More than 10 years: +$10/hour

15+ years: +$15/hour

Previous qualifying experience should follow workers when they change healthcare employers.

5–6 PATIENT MAXIMUM FOR PATIENT SAFETY
Establish a routine maximum of 5–6 patients per CNA/PCT.

This should be a maximum—not a staffing goal.

Assignments should be lower when patient acuity requires greater care, including total-care patients, mechanical lifts, frequent repositioning or toileting, feeding assistance, dementia, behavioral needs, fall precautions, isolation, extensive mobility assistance, or other high-acuity needs.

MANDATORY DIFFERENTIALS
Employees working qualifying evening/night shifts should receive:

+$2.50/hour

Employees working qualifying weekends should receive:

+$4.00/hour

When an employee qualifies for both, the employee must receive BOTH.

One differential should not replace the other.

HOLIDAY & HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY
Under the proposed national standard, employees working designated holidays should receive time-and-one-half holiday premium pay.

During a qualifying infectious-disease outbreak or other significant workplace health hazard that materially increases occupational exposure, covered direct-care employees required to work in the affected environment should receive:

+$25/HOUR HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY
Hazardous duty pay should be in addition to applicable base pay, longevity pay, shift differential, and weekend differential—not a replacement for them.

Hazard pay should never replace appropriate PPE, infection-control practices, adequate staffing, training, or other employee safety measures.

WHEN CNA/PCT STAFFING IS SHORT, PATIENT CARE MUST REMAIN TEAMWORK
When CNA/PCT staffing is short and sufficient RNs are available after licensed nursing responsibilities, patient acuity, and safety requirements are considered, management should assign available RN assistance to the necessary hands-on direct-care workload.

This may include appropriate assistance with toileting, bathing, incontinence care, repositioning, feeding, transfers, mobility, call lights, bed changes, mechanical lifts, and other patient-care needs.

The RN remains an RN and retains all responsibilities required by their license.

However, remaining CNAs/PCTs should not simply be overloaded beyond established safe staffing limits when qualified nursing assistance is reasonably available.

Delegation should never mean abandonment of teamwork.

FAIR ACCESS TO VOLUNTARY OVERTIME
Qualified and properly oriented CNAs/PCTs should have fair access to available voluntary overtime opportunities throughout their healthcare facility.

Workers should not automatically be restricted to their home unit when an available overtime assignment exists elsewhere for which they are qualified.

Overtime opportunities should be transparent and should not be distributed based on favoritism or retaliation.

PROTECT WORKERS FROM RETALIATION
Workers should be protected when they make good-faith reports involving:

Unsafe staffing or assignments;

Patient-safety concerns;

Requests for assistance;

Workplace violence;

Unsafe transfers;

Inadequate PPE or hazardous exposure;

Wage, differential, or overtime concerns;

Unfair overtime distribution;

Favoritism;

Or other workplace safety concerns.

Workers should also be protected when participating in lawful workplace advocacy, supporting petitions, or cooperating with investigations.

WHY THIS MATTERS
When one CNA/PCT is responsible for too many patients, patients wait.

They wait to be changed.

They wait to use the bathroom.

They wait to be repositioned.

They wait for feeding assistance.

They wait after pressing their call light.

They wait because one caregiver cannot safely be everywhere at once.

This is not only a wage issue.

This is a patient-safety issue.

Experienced caregivers deserve compensation that recognizes their years of service. Patients deserve timely and dignified care. Healthcare facilities need standards that encourage experienced workers to remain in the profession.

JOIN US
We are asking healthcare workers, patients, families, caregivers, and supporters throughout the United States to sign this petition and stand with America's direct-care workforce.

$30/HOUR MINIMUM
5–6 PATIENT MAXIMUM
EXPERIENCE MUST PAY
SHIFT + WEEKEND DIFFERENTIALS MUST STACK
HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY WHEN WORKERS FACE QUALIFYING OUTBREAK RISKS
PATIENT CARE MUST BE TEAMWORK
FAIR OVERTIME
NO RETALIATION
Protect the Caregivers Who Protect the Patients.
Please sign and share this petition. Together, we can call for safer patient care and stronger standards for the direct-care workers who provide it every day.