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Kit Harrington makes more than a million dollars per episode of #GameOfThrones this season, but supports UK charities like MenCap not giving backpay to direct support workers who did overnight shifts caring for people with intellectual disabilities. Seems fair. 
Kit Harrington has a net worth of 12 million dollars. If Kit Harrington actually wanted to #StopSleepInCrisis, he could pay off a chunk of it himself.
Jodie Whittaker gets about a quarter of a million dollars a year to do #DoctorWho. The amount a direct support worker got, until extremely recently, for an overnight shift was about $38 dollars per night, or about $4.75 an hour — Well below minimum wage. #StopSleepInCrisis
Jodie Whittaker has a net worth of about 8 million dollars — But sure. The problem is direct support workers getting minimum wage for overnight shifts.
Matt Horne has a net worth of $215 million. He could literally pay off half the back pay owed to direct support workers tomorrow, if he felt like it.
Joanna Lumley, who won two BAFTA awards for her work on #AbsolutelyFabulous, has a net worth of about $16.5 million. Direct support workers in the UK have been paid a fraction of minimum wage for overnight shifts for years and should have been paid more fairly.
Jo Whiley makes $150,000-$200,000 a year. She’s one of the BBC’s highest paid radio DJ’s. I wonder how she’d like getting paid less than minimum wage?
Direct support workers are some of the lowest paid people in the UK and the US. Paying them poorly isn’t just bad for them — It’s bad for disabled people as well. Helping us live our lives shouldn’t be a last-ditch employment option for people who can’t do any better.
People who choose to be direct support workers are choosing to do extremely important, demanding work. They should get paid appropriately for that work. You can’t pay rent or buy groceries with caring.
#StopSleepInCrisis is an abdication of responsibility. Direct support workers deserve back pay to bring the hours they’ve worked to at least minimum wage.
The government says Mencap needs to pay minimum wage and back pay. Mencap launches a high profile, star-studded media campaign, asking people to sign a petition to stop enforcement of the directive. What a mess.
