Caregivers Deserve A Living Wage and More

I like many others have watched the NYS Budget process and at the same time followed the national debate on raising the Federal minimum wage. I've also read about the rumblings from liberals and progressives in NYS relative to their disappointment with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on economic issues. All of these things make me think about policy decisions that have kept people and organizations from experiencing the economic growth that everyone touts as critical.

It's always interesting after budget negotiations to see announcements by both the Gov. and the Legislature dribble out about new money for this or that new project. No one seems to be aware of these items as negotiations are being held behind closed doors but when the budget is announced the news and at least promises of money start flowing. That's what happens in a non transparent process. Deals are made and certain constituencies' requests are met. But the worst part is that others' aren't.

The specific constituency I'm talking about are the caregivers and direct support workers who provide, care, support, relationships and so much more to NYS's vulnerable populations. Again, specifically, I'm talking about those employees in the non profit, private sector. Vulnerable people are the elderly and people with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities. They live throughout NYS. Sometimes but not often enough, these people live in their own homes. They also live in approved residential settings or larger facilities like nursing homes and sometimes at home with family members. There are in fact a lot of options. The one consistent issue though is people who support them.

I and others have written about the employees who provide support to these people before. The reason is simple. Their dilemma is great and ongoing. In many cases these hard working folks are paid $7.50 to $8.00/hour based on the kind of reimbursement that organizations who hire them get paid. The high end of starting wages for these workers is $12 to $15/hr.

The other day I saw information from an advocacy agency saying something like "good news for direct support workers". This was referencing a 2% increase for these employees in this year's NYS budget. To put things in context, there haven't been increases for these positions in four or more years. Given inflation, these organizations and employees should have received somewhere around an 8% increase. How can organizations who are advocating for these people and the people they support be celebrating this good news? I also saw an article where a NYS Assemblyman was indicating that this 2% increase would help stop abuse as well as help control turnover. Really! I'd like to understand how that will work.

In the late 70's when institutions were still the places where the majority of people with intellectual and development disabilities resided, NYS made a deal with the public employee unions to not equalize the pay of those employees and non profit, private sector employees. That deal has driven the pay inequality for decades. A system was built on that inequality and continues to exist today. To fix it would cost millions. Yes, the millions that are spent on pet projects every year. The millions to revitlize athletic stadiums or to bring movies and TV shows to NY. There are so many millions it's hard to fathom and yet it becomes a battle to get a 2% increase for hard working people over four years. So high turnover, some abuse and mistreatment, will continue as people and organizations try to provide support to our most vulnerable citizens. Voices of advocates just aren't there or are ineffective.