UNAP Settles With Seven Hills Rhode Island In Mediation That Results In 25-Cent Hourly Raise

By Gina Macris

Workers at Seven Hills Rhode Island who care for about 250 adults with developmental disabilities will receive an across-the-board raise of 25 cents an hour retroactive to last June 23, the expiration date of their previous labor agreement. The contract contains a wage re-opener in its second and final year.

The mediated settlement was ratified last month by some 200 members of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP), according to Jeanne Jose, a union business representative. Any increase that comes from Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would be over and above the raises negotiated in mediation, Jose said.

In January, the union membership authorized its executive committee to call a strike, if necessary, after labor-management talks had collapsed the previous month.

According to Jose, the union had originally sought a 5 percent wage increase across the board. That percentage works out to about 55 cents an hour for those who had been making $10.94 an hour – more than half the membership. By comparison, the minimum wage in Rhode Island is currently $10.50 an hour.

Jose said 39 per-diem employees, who are on call but receive no benefits, were paid $12.36 an hour under the terms of the previous contract. Jose said 12 behavioral assistants, who must have bachelor’s degrees, made $15.36 an hour.

Talks fell apart in December when management offered a choice of an across-the-board increase of 13 cents an hour, or a 25-cent increase for those making $10.94 an hour and no raise for higher-paid union members.

Jose said “people were happy” with the wage settlement, taking into account Rhode Island’s chronic underfunding of developmental disability services, which has resulted in low wages and high turnover.

UNAP is one of several labor organizations affiliated with the AFL-CIO which support companion bills which have been introduced in the General Assembly to create a $15-hour minimum wage for direct care workers.

In a statement, Cliff R. Cabral, vice-president of Seven Hills Rhode Island, said, “We are pleased that we were able to come to a resolution and will continue to advocate on behalf of those who provide crucial supports to adults with developmental disabilities.”

In addition to the raises, Jose said, the union won a five-cent increase in mileage reimbursement for employees who must use their personal vehicles on the job – from 40 cents to 45 cents an hour – and other changes in contract language.

According to Jose, new language ensures that:

• Employees will receive adequate training or re-training before they are tested or re-tested on protocols for dispensing medication to clients.

• Management will provide adequate staffing to ensure the health and safety of workers and clients on an as-needed basis; for example, when two people are needed, instead of one, to help a heavy person using a wheelchair to get in and out of a car for a visit to the doctor’s.

Seven Hills, based in Woonsocket, is a private agency that provides residential and day services for adults with developmental disabilities in northern Rhode Island.

Mediator Steps Into Labor Dispute Over Low Wages At Northern Rhode Island DD Service Provider

By Gina Macris

Seven Hills Rhode Island and the union representing workers who assist some 250 adults with developmental disabilities have agreed to meet with a mediator in an attempt to settle a months-long labor dispute.

A union spokeswoman, Jeanne Jose, organizer for the United Nurses and Allied Professionals, said the first mediation session was Wednesday, Jan. 23, and the two sides agreed to meet again with a mediator next week. Earlier in the month, the union membership, about 200 to 220 employees, authorized the negotiating committee to call a strike, if needed, Jose said.

UNAP initially proposed a 5 percent increase in wages across the board, she said. More than half the membership makes $10.94 an hour, and a five percent increase would add about 55 cents to that rate. Thirty-nine per-diem employees, who are on call but receive no benefits, are paid $12.36 an hour. She said 12 behavioral assistants, who must have bachelor’s degrees, make $15.36 an hour.

In the most recent bargaining session in December, Jose said, management gave the union a choice: either an across-the-board increase of 13 cents an hour, or a 25-cent increase for those making $10.94 an hour and no raise for higher-paid union members.

Neither option is acceptable, she said. The union membership voted Jan. 9 to authorize the bargaining committee to call a walkout, if necessary..

Efforts to reach management, represented by Cliff R. Cabral, vice president of Seven Hills Rhode Island, have been unsuccessful.

Jose said the union also seeks to preserve health care benefits, which she described as “decent.” Employees pay 20 percent of costs, she said, but rising premiums have eroded take-home pay.

There are three other areas where the union wants improvements:

· An increase in reimbursement for transportation, from 40 cents to 45 cents a mile for direct care workers, who are required to use their own vehicles on the job. The standard reimbursement rate allowed by the Internal Revenue Service in 2018 was 54.5 cents a mile. For 2019, the IRS increased the rate to 58 cents an hour.

· Contract language that ensures employees will receive adequate training or re-training before they are tested or re-tested on protocols for dispensing medication to clients.

· Adequate staffing to ensure health and safety on an as-needed basis; for example, when someone who uses a wheelchair is too heavy for one worker to transfer from the chair to a car to go to a doctor’s appointment and return home.

UNAP has represented developmental disability workers at Seven Hills and its predecessor organizations since about 2005, Jose said. The last contract expired in June, 2018.

With direct support wages linked to government funding, the labor dispute underlines the gap between pay in Rhode Island and neighboring states for the same work.

In Connecticut, all direct care workers make $14.75 an hour, effective Jan. 1.

In Massacusetts, where they’re called Personal Care Attendants, those who belong to the Service Employees International Union make $15 an hour.

The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $12 an hour. In Rhode Island it is $10.50. Governor Gina Raimondo recently proposed raising the minimum wage to $11.10 an hour and a wage increase for direct care workers that would add about 44 cents an hour to their paychecks.

The trade association representing about two thirds of private providers of developmental disability services, including Seven Hills, has said the average entry-level wage among its member organizations is $11.36 an hour.

Seven Hills Rhode Island is affiliated with the Seven Hills Foundation, a multi-faceted human service agency which has a broad presence in Massachusetts.