Group home workers join with nursing home workers in strike threat
Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror
Latia Maldonado and other members of SEIU 1199 comfort Sylvia Grant after a press conference announcing a plan to strike if a negotiation over wages isn’t reached by May 27.
Members of SEIU 1199 who work in group homes warned Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday that they were planning to strike if a negotiation over wages isn’t reached by May 27.
Following a press conference, members of the union walked to Lamont’s office in the capitol on Thursday and delivered strike notifications to a member of his staff. They say it’s impossible to survive on the paltry $18.42 an hour that many are paid for work that is stressful and even dangerous.
Unless the groups reach an agreement, those 1,700 workers will join the 6,000 nursing home workers who have already pledged to strike, in what the union said would be the largest strike of health care workers in Connecticut history. Nursing home workers have demanded a pathway to increasing pay to $30 per hour and safe staffing levels.
Earlier this month, Lamont successfully delayed the strike deadline from May 19 to May 27 after meeting with nursing home and group home workers. Lamont said he “expressed to them that I agree that their current wages do not match the value of the service they provide and that I join them in their effort to seek an increase in their compensation.”
At the press conference on Thursday, Suzanne Clark, Secretary Treasurer of SEIU 1199NE, said that workers were being pushed to the brink at intense, low-wage jobs just to keep their families fed and housed.
“They’re working 60, 70, 80, frankly upward of 100 hours a week, just to get by. Not because they want to, but just to put food on the table, to pay rent,” Clark said.
Sylvia Grant, who works in a group home as direct support staff, also took the podium to talk about her struggles over two decades. Though Grant said she felt called to a career as a caretaker, she can’t take care of her own family.
“I’m often left deciding if I’m buying food to put in the fridge, or am I paying car insurance. I’m always juggling bills — I should join the circus,” Grant said through tears. “There are decisions no one should have to make — especially a caregiver working full time. But here’s the catch: I’m working more than full time.”
Linnea Moore, a residential program worker, said that workplace injuries are common in group homes.
“I’ve been hit, I’ve been kicked, I’ve had fire extinguishers thrown at me, I’ve had chairs thrown at me, I’ve had rocks thrown at me, I’ve been spit at,” Moore said. “We’ve had many, many, many injuries, and I think a lot of it is because we don’t have the proper staffing. But who wants to work for $18 an hour and get beat up?”
Gian-Carl Casa, the president and CEO of The Alliance, an advocacy organization that represents nonprofits, said that state contracts with nonprofits haven’t allowed those groups to pay workers enough, and low wages have also made it difficult to attract and retain employees.
“It would be an enormous hardship for those organizations if workers go on strike,” Casa said. “They value their workers, they want to pay them more, but like all nonprofits they just can’t do it financially unless the state provides increases.”
Casa said that the state does have the ability to pay — thanks to a surplus of more than $2 billion, and that paying workers more would boost local economies.
But questions remain about what proposed federal cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid would mean for Connecticut’s budget, and the many holes that surplus funding would be needed to fill.
“If funding remains flat and federal funding is cut, it would be a human disaster,” Casa said. “Programs would close, people would lose their jobs, it would just be a mess.”
CT Mirror reporter Keith Phaneuf contributed to this report.
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