Help those who help us with a cost-of-living raise for grossly underpaid human-services employees

BY MICHAELLE SOLAGES

Last year Gov. Kathy Hochul did what her predecessor refused to do: She approved a cost-ofliving adjustment for the humanser vices sector, which spans many industries including foster care agencies, food pantries and domestic violence shelters.

Those are workers who keep New York moving every day, who work on the issues our state needs help with the most, such as homelessness and the mental health crisis. They are heroes, yet they are being grossly underpaid for their life-saving work as the cost of living in New York continues to rise.

cover the costs associated with the services they provide, let alone provide workers with a living wage.

Twelve consecutive years of denying the sector a cost-of-living adjustment has left it in shambles. Although we finally funded a COLA last year, it was not enough to make up for the harm that has been done. Human-services workers are still making poverty wages in an increasingly expensive state.

do not qualify for public assistance—but not enough to pay their bills. They are left foundering by a system that works against them, all while they work for us.

THE MaJOrITy OF EMPLOYEES IN THE SECTOR ARE PeOPLe OF COLOr

Most human services nonprofits are paid for their important work through government contracts, which determine how much their workers make. The less we pay the nonprofits, the less they can pay their workers.

Many of the contracts barely

Human-services workers make about $20,000 a year less than public-sector workers with similar levels of education, and many are unable to make ends meet. Many work long hours and are forced to rely on assistance themselves, even though they spend each day providing help to others.

In fact, 15% of workers in the sector qualified for food stamps between 2016 and 2018.

That is unconscionable.

Other human-services workers make just enough money that they

Members of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, which I chair, are particularly concerned about the issue because people of color constitute the majority of employees in the human-services sector. About 66% of human-services workers are women, and 68% are people of color. There is no equitable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic without an investment in the vital human-services workforce. We cannot allow the underfunding of this essential sector to continue.

#JustPay campaign

That is why we in the caucus are announcing our support for the Human Services Council’s #JustPay campaign, which calls for an annual, automatic COLA and a living-wage floor of $21 per hour for all government-funded workers in the industry.

Racial equity is key to an equitable pandemic recovery, and the council’s campaign is an important step toward the goal.

The beginning of the current legislative session is a great time to move forward on this important issue. We are calling on our col- leagues in the state Legislature to join us in supporting the #JustPay campaign. ■