Hey Governor, It Takes Money!

How do we or the 'state' value work supporting vulnerable people - people with disabilities, the elderly, infants and children? Most of these groups of vulnerable people are supported by either the state itself or by private, nonprofit organizations who are paid by the state to take on that responsibility.

The people who take on this mission are hard working people, mostly young, mostly women, many people of color. They go by different titles, Nurses Aides, Certified Nursing Assistants, Teacher Aides, Instructors, Direct Support Professionals, etc. They perform tasks that range from personal care like bathing, toileting and feeding to more complex support around behavioral issues, employment training, community inclusion and independent living. The work is hard both physically and mentally. Sometimes care and support is total and other times the work entails helping someone learning to do things on their own, or teaching new skills. Then there's the paperwork, every 15 minutes to an hour - documentation, documentation, documentation. The people paying the bills want to be sure of course that the money is being spent correctly and wisely. In addition, due to issues of the potential for abuse or neglect, there is monitoring and reporting that might result in lengthy investigations, loss of pay or even in the loss of employment.

So back to the original question, how do we value this work? We tend to talk a good game. We make sure these people are talked about as wonderful, committed and special people, doing God's work, etc., etc. None of it pays the bills however. In the nonprofit sector, these employees make anywhere from $9 to $12 an hour on average. Their benefits vary based on the organization they work for. The state of NY, like other states, also continues to have employees who perform some of these tasks. Salaries tend to be higher in the government sector, sometimes close to twice as much as the employees of the organizations that the state contracts with. What a way to show value!

So now we have Governor Andrew Cuomo identifying one sector, the food service industry, as needing a review relative to a minimum wage increase. He has painted the industry as piggish with CEO's income in some cases exceeding $20M. No one on his staff has seemed to remind him, that people who he is responsible for funding, through contracts and reimbursement rates to nonprofit entities, are making barely more than current fast food industry employees. As a matter of fact, these agencies have in some cases fallen behind the food industry. Right or wrong, that is the reality.

So again, how do we value these hard working people in NYS who are supporting vulnerable people? It seems not much or to put it more crassly, obviously not as much as the value of a burger or southwest salad. How would you feel if you were treated this way? How would you feel if your economic stress was ignored while expectations kept increasing? The answer seems pretty obvious wouldn't you say?

A number of years ago and as a result of news articles about excessive salaries of CEO's at a few nonprofit agencies, Governor Cuomo tried to blame low salaries of direct support professionals on the high salaries of executives and administrators. As a result, he and the legislature capped CEO salaries in the nonprofit sector. That card has been played. It can't be played again Governor. The real issue is and always has been money and the direct level of reimbursement to agencies that government hires to do it's work. Priorities need to reflect that. Representatives of human service organizations and those advocating for them need to begin speaking up quickly and firmly, letting the Governor and the legislature know that these workforce issues need to be dealt with head on and that we all need to truly value the work of supporting vulnerable people. This has become an issue of economic justice for a sector of the workforce that needs more then just a good word.