The Fight for $15 Spreads
https://portside.org/2015-06-30/fight-15-spreads
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- Massachusstts Home Health Workers Win Wage Hike to $15 an Hour
- [New York] Fast-food Workers Likely will get a Raise to $15 an Hour, Wage Board Says
By Katie Johnston
The Boston Globe
June 26, 2015
After five months of negotiations with the Baker administration, more than 35,000 personal care attendants in Massachusetts won an agreement for a $15-an-hour starting wage, the first state-level victory in a nationwide campaign to raise low-wage workers’ pay.
The state’s deal with Service Employees International Union Local 1199, which represents the workers, will boost starting pay in stages from $13.38 to $15 an hour by July 2018.
“It makes Massachusetts the first state to guarantee a living wage for home care workers, a fast-growing, crucial part of our health care system where workers have been underpaid for far too long,” said Paul Sonn, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project, a New York workers’ rights group.
The personal care attendants covered by the agreement bathe, cook for, and run errands for elderly and disabled clients who qualify for Medicaid, which is funded through the state.
“The administration is grateful to SEIU 1199 members and leadership for their good faith negotiations,” Jim Conroy, senior adviser to the governor, said in a statement.
Home health care is among the fastest-growing sectors in the country. In Massachusetts, home health care jobs are expected to grow by nearly 40 percent in the next decade, compared with an 11 percent increase in overall employment, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Statewide, there are more than 50,000 home care workers, including those who work for private agencies.
Personal care attendant Rosario Cabrera, 31, of New Bedford, said the raise means she will be able to pay her bills on time, provide for her two children, and maybe even take a vacation. Cabrera works seven days a week caring for two elderly women, and even with the money her husband makes as a machine operator, her family struggles to get by.
“I’m proud of what I do because I’m helping another human being live their life,” she said. “But it’s not fair if I can’t live my life.”
Home care workers got involved in the national “Fight for $15” movement a year ago, joining forces with fast food workers, retail employees, and others demonstrating for higher wages and the right to unionize.
Since then, home care workers have been holding demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, and community forums around the state. The home care workers have called off a 15-hour picket in front of the State House scheduled for June 30.
The wage hike will allow some workers to give up second jobs or get off public assistance, said Veronica Turner, executive vice president at 1199 SEIU.
“It is a major step forward, not just for home care workers but all low-wage workers,” she said. “The national conversation has shifted and income inequality is a conversation that most responsible folks are having.”
The personal care attendants will get a 30-cent hourly hike effective immediately, and discussions will begin by Jan. 1 to work out a series of wage increases to get the workers to $15 an hour within three years. Since the SEIU-backed “Fight for $15” campaign began in late 2012, a wave of $15-an-hour mandates have been passed, including citywide laws in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo convened a wage board to raise the pay of fast-food workers across the state.
Many employers say a $15-an-hour minimum wage could cripple their businesses, making it harder to hire new workers and stay profitable, especially as other costs rise. In Massachusetts, employers already have some of the highest energy and labor costs in the nation, with a minimum wage rising to $11 an hour by 2017 and a new law going into effect next week that requires employers to provide sick time to all their employees.
By Marnie Eisenstadt
syracuse.com
June 29, 2015
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Most fast-food workers in New York will receive a wage increase to $15 an hour, but the details still have to be worked out.
Members of the state wage board said during their meeting this morning that they all agreed the wage should be raised to at least $15 an hour.
"The three members on the board are in agreement that there should be a substantial increase," said Byron Brown, chairman of the wage board and mayor of Buffalo.
All three members said at $15 an hour was the minimum amount for people to be self-sufficient if they are supporting a family. And most fast-food workers are, they said. There are nearly 200,000 fast-food workers in New York, according to the state Department of Labor.
New York's minimum wage is $8.75 and set to rise to $9 at year's end.
In May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed the wage board to look at the state-wide minimum wage in the fast-food industry and consider raising it. His choices for the board have been criticized for leaving out anyone who represents the fast-food or restaurant industry.
Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, said the group is against any wage increase that targets a single industry.
"The NYS Restaurant Association continues to oppose a minimum wage increase that specifically targets a single industry," Fleischut said. "Any substantial raise to wages needs to be phased in over a significant amount of time to allow restaurants to prepare for a huge increase in labor costs."
Fleischut also cautioned that the board should make should the wage increase targets large chains, and that it doesn't make it harder for people who need a flexible work schedule to have one.
The board held four public hearings throughout the state this month where it heard from 2,000 people.
"What workers have shown us is a system that is like wage slavery," said board member Mike Fishman, who represents labor on the board and is the secretary-treasurer of Service Employees International Union. Workers get such short notice on their hours that it's nearly impossible to get another job, but it's also difficult to get 40 hours in the fast-food business, he said. The industry is structured in a way that's keeping people in poverty, he said.
The other board member, Kevin Ryan, is the chairman and founder of GILT, an online flash-sale website. Ryan represents business, is involved in several other businesses and is on the board of Human Rights Watch.
The board didn't vote to make a recommendation to the state labor commissioner today because it still has to work out the specifics of whom the wage order would cover and what incentives there might be for businesses to provide more stable schedules.
It's unlikely that small chains with 10 or fewer locations would be impacted by the board's order. The goal, board members said, is to make large fast-food chains, who are clearly making a profit, pay their workers a liveable wage.
The board is expected to make a final recommendation by July. That recommendation goes to the state labor commissioner, who then decides whether to issue an order based upon it.