Group home union set to strike despite assurances

More than 600 unionized group home workers plan to strike on Oct. 5 if their employers don’t agree to wage and benefit increases that were assured by the state under a $184 million, two-year deal.

Despite the state agreement in June — which was reached to avert an earlier strike threat — the workers and their two employers have not agreed to a new contract, officials with SEIU District 1199 New England said late Monday.

District 1199, the state’s largest health care workers union, was set to issue strike notices Tuesday morning to Whole Life Inc. and Network Inc., which operate a combined 70 group homes and day programs for intellectually disabled people in the state.

The union is seeking two-year contracts with the two nonprofit providers under terms dictated in part by the added state payments to cover higher wages and benefits.

Representatives for Whole Life and Network were not available for comment following a Monday briefing by the union that lasted until 5 p.m.

The union said its members at Whole Life have been working without a contract since late March 2019. Negotiations stalled during the coronavirus pandemic due to lack of funding from the state, union spokesman Pedro Zayas said.

Network employees have been without a new contract since late March 2021.

Jesse Martin, a vice president of 1199, said Whole Life has not come to the bargaining table since late July or responded to the union’s proposals for better health care coverage and enhanced retirement benefits. Whole Life has agreed to provide increases during the first of a two-year contract, Martin said.

The strike notices affect 334 workers at 38 group homes operated by Whole Life.

Network, on the other hand, has argued that the state funding isn’t enough to cover the wage and benefit increases the union wants, said Stephanie Deceus, vice president of the union’s group homes division.

Thirty facilities operated by Network and nearly 300 workers are impacted by the strike notices aimed at that company.

The state, which was involved in negotiating the group home deal to avoid a strike of thousands of group home workers in the spring, is so far staying out of the current dispute.

Melissa McCaw, the governor’s budget director, said in a statement Monday that following

the agreement in June, the parties agreed “SEIU and industry leaders would work collaboratively to execute the desired outcome.”

“We continue to expect that both parties will work in good faith to implement the portions of the agreement that can be immediately acted upon, such as the wage package, and continue the process on the benefits enhancement pool,” McCaw said. “The State has given both sides a process, timeline, tools and resources to successfully negotiate an agreement.”

SEIU president Rob Baril said the union welcomes any involvement from the state to help resolve the dispute, but he added that the state already did its part by appropriating the money.

“Any time that elected officials or state administrators weigh in on the side of workers .... We welcome that. I want to be clear and unequivocal about that,” Baril said. “But this is not primarily a circumstance of there not being the funding available.”

Of the $184 million package, $35 million was set aside for health insurance and benefit improvements, he said.

Most group home workers currently make $14 to $15 per hour. Under the group home agreement, workers would cap out at $17.25 per hour next year, amounting to an annual salary of $35,000.

Alissa Taylor, a member of SEIU who has worked for Whole Life for just over two years, said she makes $14.25 per hour and pays $500 per month for her health insurance plan.

“They toil in poverty,” Baril said. “It is absolutely criminal in terms of workers in this condition.”

The deal reached with group home workers followed a similar agreement with unionized nursing home workers after strike threats by SEIU. That standoff highlighted the need for improved wages and benefits for nursing home workers, the union said, especially given they put themselves on the line to care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents during the pandemic.