A Petition for Fair Wages, Adequate Staffing, and Safe Resident Care in Maryland Nursing Facilities
To the Maryland General Assembly, Maryland Department of Health, and policymakers responsible for long-term care:

We, the undersigned nursing assistants, healthcare workers, residents, families, and concerned Marylanders, call for meaningful action to strengthen Maryland's nursing-facility workforce and protect the residents who depend on us every day. 

We Are Asking for:
1. Safe Staffing Standards
Establish and enforce staffing standards that provide CNAs with a manageable number of patients or residents and enough time to perform their duties safely.

2. Fair and Competitive Wages
Increase CNA compensation to better reflect the physical demands, responsibilities, skills, and importance of direct-care work.

3. Protection From Preventable Workplace Injuries
Support safe lifting, transferring, repositioning, and other workplace practices and ensure that staffing levels do not force caregivers to take unnecessary physical risks.

4. Action Against Burnout
Address chronic understaffing, excessive workloads, and mandatory overtime that contribute to caregiver exhaustion and turnover.

5. Better Retention and Working Conditions
Create workplaces where experienced CNAs can remain in the profession rather than leaving because of unsafe conditions, inadequate wages, or unsustainable workloads.

6. A Better Quality of Life for CNAs
Recognize that caregivers deserve the ability to support themselves and their families, afford housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and other necessities without sacrificing their own health and well-being.

Why This Matters
This is not simply a request for higher pay or fewer responsibilities. It is a request for a safer and more sustainable healthcare system.

When CNAs have adequate staffing, appropriate workloads, and fair compensation, they are better positioned to provide safe, attentive, and compassionate care. Improving working conditions can benefit caregivers, patients, residents, families, and healthcare facilities alike.

CNAs deserve to be treated as the essential members of the healthcare workforce that they are.

We should not have to choose between caring for others and being able to care for ourselves.

We ask policymakers, healthcare organizations, employers, and community leaders to listen to the voices of CNAs and take meaningful steps toward safe staffing, fair wages, injury prevention, and sustainable working conditions.

Our Message Is Simple:
Fair staffing protects patients.
Fair wages protect caregivers.
Better working conditions strengthen healthcare.

Support fair staffing and fair wages for CNAs.