Heroes Fund Proposes $25,000 Salary Increase To Essential Workers

Remember when our focus was on our military and first responders in terms of how grateful we are for their service?  Did you ever think that same thanks would go to nurses, EMTs, grocery store clerks, pharmacists, postal workers home care people and other essential workers?  This crisis has made us think more about who's doing what under different circumstances.  And now a Michigan Senator is proposing compensation.

You can find the details at peters.senate.gov and nbc25news.com but in essence our U.S. Senator Gary Peters announced a proposal Monday to provide premium pay to essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic.  This “COVID-19 Heroes Fund” proposal consists of two major components: a $25,000 premium pay increase for essential healthcare workers and a $15,000 essential worker recruitment incentive.

The pay increase would be equal to a $13 per hour raise spanning from the start of the public health emergency until December 31, 2020.The recruitment incentive would be used to attract and secure a needed amount of healthcare workers for Michigan and the county. The “Heroes Fund” would fully and federally-fund the premium pay, recruitment, and retention incentive to help support frontline workers.  This includes not only health care professionals, but also grocery store associates, home care workers, first responders, pharmacists, postal workers and other essential workers.