Green New Deal For Europe – A Care Income (Excerpts)
Download the report here.
The Green New Deal for Europe is the first attempt at a political response to climate change that is on the same scale as the problem itself, and it recognizes that any response to the climate and sustainability crisis must necessarily also deal with the austerity and economic short-sightedness that currently paralyze our societies…
It is a promise to build a fairer and more democratic economy, generating decent jobs, protecting workers’ rights, and empowering communities to shape their futures. This is the vision behind the Green Public Works (GPW), an historic public investment programme financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB)…
One of its recommendation: Implement a Care Income to compensate activities like care for people, the urban environment, and the natural world.
The GPW will recognise that reproductive and care work represents a significant amount of time allocated for personal, household and community wellbeing, and the protection of and struggle for human rights which is integral to care work. The GPW, then, includes provision for a Care Income (CI) — based on the recognition of the necessity of the activities of caring, which are often undervalued or invisible in our societies, and overwhelmingly performed by women, beginning with mothers. This Care Income can be made available to people who are not formally employed, but are engaged on a full- or part-time basis in care — parents caring for their children or for disabled relatives, children caring for their elderly or disabled parents, and community members caring for each other and the environment. It would raise the status of women, since they do most of the caring work, and of all carers, and strengthen the power to refuse unequal pay. It would also strengthen disabled people making demands for access and for the care they need to live independently. By providing social and financial recognition, a Care Income would provide an incentive for more people, including men who have so far shunned care work, to engage with this work…
Workers under a job guarantee can earn a dignified living doing anything that is publicly deemed to be of social value, including caring for the elderly and children, and for people who are ill or disabled, habitat restoration, and community services.