School employees strike in Hartford for higher wages

Dozens of school employees marched along Holcomb Road in Hartford Wednesday morning waving signs as they strike for higher wages. The SEIU 1199 members, who work with special education students at Oak Hill schools across Connecticut, are calling for a cost of living adjustment they say is needed to keep up with inflation and rising costs.

Around 50 Oak Hill workers began to strike at 6 a.m. in Hartford, as workers at other group homes and day programs across the state — employed by six nonprofits, including Whole Life, Inc. of New London, Network Inc. in Manchester, Mosaic Residences in Cromwell, and both Caring Community of Connecticut and Alternative Services of Connecticut in Colchester — did the same.

More than 1,700 workers went on strike across the state with around 1,000 social service advocates rallying at the state Capitol building Wednesday, according to Pedro Zayas, SEIU 1199 spokesperson.

“We shouldn’t have to be out here fighting for better wages,” said Oak Hill worker Pamella Reid-Johnson. “Every day we take care of individuals, but we can’t even take care of ourselves.”

Reid-Johnson has been working at Oak Hill for 23 years and said she hasn’t seen much of a raise in that time. She currently makes $20 an hour — not enough to live in the state, she said. Like many of the workers picketing, she had to take a second job to make ends meet.

“It’s been pennies,” Reid-Johnson said. “We can’t even afford food right now. We should be able to go to the grocery store without being concerned about what to put in our cart. So I took a second job, but many of us aren’t working just two jobs, we’re working double overtime which takes time away from our families. I work double shift, so after this job I go home and take a shower, and go to my other job.”

Reid-Johnson is among 1,700 union employees represented by the union New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, calling on Gov. Ned Lamont, Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, and Senate President Martin Looney, to pass a higher cost-of-living adjustment for workers. Currently, the legislature has proposed a 1% COLA to Oak Hill’s state contracts over the next two years.

Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199 New England, said the union is fighting for a “pathway to a $25 per hour minimum wage” for its workers whom many make below $20 an hour with some as low as $17 an hour.

“After decades of underfunding, 1% does not come close to paying our staff a living wage, especially in a time of high inflation and increases to medical insurance,” Oak Hill said in a statement.

The minimum wage in Connecticut is $14 an hour. A Living Wage Calculator created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology in December 2022 indicates a living wage for one adult with no children in Hartford County is $16.86. For a single adult with one child, it rises to $36.28 and to $47.03 with two children. If there are two working adults in the house but no children, a living wage drops to $13.67 but rises again to $20.11 with one child and to $25.60 with two and $30.86 with three children.

“Everything seems to be going up right now but our wages,” said Oak Hill worker John Baugh. “No one would even be here if we weren’t dedicated and passionate about what we do. We would have taken higher paying jobs. But we want to be here.”

Baril said that stagnant wages are not only impacting workers but the clients being served. Baril said that Oak Hill School in Hartford has about 550 members with 200 vacancies on the books.

“You cannot recruit people and retain staff at $17.25 an hour,” Baril said. “The funding has to be there to provide the clients with the dignity they deserve and the recreational opportunities they deserve. Those services have eroded and that has dramatically impacted the life of many of our clients.”

Hartford mayoral candidate Eric Coleman was also on the picket line and marching for what the former state senator and Superior Court judge said is a “livable wage” for Oak Hill’s workers.

“The state is in a fiscal position where it has the money right now to do this,” Coleman said. “There’s really no excuse they have to not give these folks a livable wage increase with the massive state surplus that exists. We describe these workers as essential and we ought to treat them that way and give them the compensation they deserve.”

House Speaker Matt Ritter said he expects a 2.5% rate hike in next year’s budget that’s still being negotiated with Gov. Ned Lamont, according to reporting from the CT Mirror. That money is expected to be allocated to the nonprofits that administer the services throughout the state.

“We’re not leaving until we get what we want,” Baugh said. “We will continue to be out here for as long as it takes.”

Stephen Underwood can be reached at [email protected]