Hundreds of workers at group homes across Connecticut have voted to authorize a strike next month
Hundreds of workers at group homes and day programs for people with developmental disabilities plan to walk off the job next month after negotiations over pay and benefits stalled, said the union representing them.
“Our members are sick and tired of being ignored,’' said Jesse Martin, an official with SEIU District 1199 New England. “The clients need staff to care for them with dignity … and we have taken an overwhelming strike vote at all of these agencies.”
Unionized workers at group homes, nursing homes and other facilities have endorsed a “Long term Care Workers Bill of Rights” that calls for a $20 hourly wage, a pension and lower cost health insurance.
The workers have voted to strike on Oct. 5 at 6 a.m., SEIU leaders said. Group homes will be notified on Tuesday.
The threat comes more than three months after the state authorized a $184 million funding package to raise pay and increase benefits at group homes across Connecticut. Despite that, union officials say talks have now collapsed between the union and two group home operators: Whole Life Inc. and Network Inc.
Industry representatives have said that the state has underfunded homes for years. The agreement, reached in June and brokered by two top aides to Gov. Ned Lamont, was supposed to address that.
“The state of Connecticut stepped up and provided funding that was adequate,’' said Rob Baril, president of the union. “Now it’s time for the agencies to do the same.’'
“This is a workforce that truly does God’s work,’' Baril said, “taking care of folks with developmental disabilities … it is a Medicaid population, so by definition, the clients themselves are poor people, and they are disabled.”
The workforce is overwhelmingly female, mostly Black, Latina or working-class white, Baril said. “They toil in poverty,’' he said.
Most unionized group home workers earn between $14 and $15 an hour. One of those employees, Alissa Taylor, says she earns $14.25 an hour after two years at a Whole Life group home. Her health insurance costs top $500 a month (the policy does not cover any dependents.)
Even once the money authorized by the state earlier this year is dispersed, wages won’t reach that $20 bench mark, Baril said. “The funding that we were able to achieve will make some progress in wages‚’’ he said. “But ultimately, we’re talking about the workforce tapping out at about $17.25 an hour next year,” or about $35,000 annually.
In addition to wages and health insurance costs, the two sides have yet to reach agreement on other issues, including staffing levels, retirement benefits and the union’s demand to add Juneteenth as a holiday.
Approximately 334 workers are subject to the strike notice at 38 Whole Life group homes scattered throughout the state. About 300 members at about 30 group homes and day programs run by Network Inc. are also subject the strike.
The last time the union held a strike vote, in late May, Lamont’s two top advisers, top budget adviser Melissa McCaw and Chief of Staff Paul Mounds, helped broker the funding agreement that resolved the impasse.