Baker, home care workers agree to wage goal
Home care workers in Massachusetts say a newly agreed upon contract extension with the state will make them the first in the nation to receive a $15 starting hourly wage.
According to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents 35,000 home care workers, the personal care attendants planned a picket Tuesday to protest their contract terms but instead will hold a celebration outside the Statehouse on Tuesday afternoon.
"This victory, winning $15 per hour, it means we are no longer invisible," Kindalay Cummings Akers, a personal care attendant from Springfield, said in a statement released by the union.
According to the Baker administration, the agreement will deliver a 30-cent-per-hour raise on July 1, with the "mutual goal" of establishing a $15 wage in 2018. The one-year agreement calls for parties to restart contract talks by Jan. 1, 2016, according to state officials, who cited a new "pathway" to the $15 goal.
The union says home care workers boosted their wage to $13.38 in 2014; they had been earning $10.84 before joining the union.
Senior citizens, disabled individuals and home care workers who assist them with daily living activities have long pushed for higher wages. Low pay has fueled industry turnover and instability and home care supporters say the strength of their industry is of increasing concern both for workers and the state's growing numbers of elderly residents.
The contract breakthrough comes nearly a decade after passage of a state law allowing personal care attendants to join a union and seven years after personal care attendants joined 1199SEIU.
Veronica Turner, 1199SEIU’s executive vice president, applauded Gov. Charlie Baker for "taking a critical step with us toward reducing workforce turnover and ensuring that Massachusetts families can access the quality home care they need for their loved ones."
PCAs plan to vote by mail on ratifying the one-year collective bargaining agreement extension.
"We are grateful to the members and leadership of 1199SEIU for their good faith in a successful process that will ensure PCA's receive appropriate compensation for the special and unique work" they perform,” Baker said in a statement on Friday.
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