Rally knocks low pay
Auto body mechanics turn out at State House to support pending bill
Auto body repair mechanics crashed the State House Wednesday, joined by dozens of tow trucks circling the building, horns blaring, to push for a pay hike on what the industry says are the lowest-inthe nation reimbursement rates.
“34 years — we’ve changed almost nothing,” Tom Ricci, legislative director of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, said to a raucous crowd of auto body shop owners and workers.
“This is our day to make a lot of noise — not just a little, don’t be shy, let’s go, let’s rock this place — we’ve done this for so long, since 1988,” he said.
The group gathered outside the State House to demand action on a pair of proposals before the lawmakers that would raise the lowest-in the nation labor rate for auto body repairs.
The bills, H.1111 and S.709, both called ‘An Act to establish minimum reimbursement rate to insurance claimants,’ are currently being ironed out between the legislative chambers through a joint committee. Both would set the rate for repair at upwards of $78 per hour of labor, according to advocates.
The current rate is just $40 per hour, which, according to the group, is the lowest in the nation and just $10 more than it was in 1988.
AASP Executive Director Evangelo “Lucky” Papageorg said the industry is filled with technicians that started because they thought it was a cool job, one that they learned to love. That passion, he said, does not feed their families though.
“The problem is that loving and cool don’t pay the bills. We need to be able to pay the bills,” he said.
The bills have until June 30 to clear the committee, after which the legislature would have just a month before the end of the session to approve and send them to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk.
Standing in the way, according to former state Sen. Guy Glodis, are insurance companies that want to keep reimbursements low.
Glodis said auto body workers first approached him in 2003, saying their wages were so low they couldn’t compete to keep workers from leaving the state. He said the problem was recognized by legislative leadership, who said they would do something about it.
“Folks, that was over 20 years ago — nothing has been done,” he said. “We’re here to educate the legislature about the greed and the injustice and the dishonesty of what’s going on with the insurance industry where they are purposely stagnating and suppressing wages.”
“It hurts business and it hurts families,” he said.