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OPINION: Low wages strain workers who care for people with disabilities in group homes

The SouthtownStar - 12/15/2021

Dec. 15—It takes patience and dedication to care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but people who work in those positions barely earn minimum wage.

They're called direct support personnel, and the median wage for the occupation is $12.04 an hour in Illinois. The statewide minimum wage for adult nontipped workers increases to $12Jan. 1.

"It's been a struggle to continue to convince lawmakers in Springfield to put money into the system, then on top of that to convince employers once they get the money to make sure it gets passed on to the workers," said Meg Lewis, policy director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

The union represents some workers at New Star Services, an agency that serves about 650 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the south suburbs and in northwest Indiana. The work is rewarding, but demanding.

"We're helping people that are pretty much forgotten about," Marlon Thomas, who works in a direct support personnel role at Aspire in Bellwood, said in an AFSCME video testimonial. "Our work is very essential."

New Star Services staffs 24 licensed community integrated living arrangements in Illinois. The residential facilities are in Alsip, Flossmoor, Matteson, Oak Forest, Park Forest, Thornton and other towns.

"We support people so they can have an active and successful life in the community they live in," said Dan Strick, New Star Services president and CEO.

Agencies have been challenged to recruit and retain workers for some time. The state uses tax dollars to reimburse private agencies. During the two-year budget impasse under former Gov. Bruce Rauner, social service agencies were starved for funding. Then the pandemic hit.

"During the course of pandemic many workers actually sheltered in place and lived for weeks at a time in the homes along with folks they're caring for," Lewis said.

That's asking a lot of someone for a job that pays minimum wage.

"The wages in this field are not where they should be," Thomas said in the video.

Workers bond with the clients in their care. They protect clients, serve them and guide them, Thomas said.

"Most of them don't understand what goes on in the world today," he said in the video.

Some employees work many hours of overtime every week. They get burned out, and some quit. The field seems to be perpetually understaffed.

"That's the vicious cycle in this industry, where the wages are low and the only way a person can survive and support a family is by working insane hours of overtime, so they're away from their family for that many hours, which takes an enormous toll," Lewis said.

Turnover and vacancy rates are high as some direct support personnel leave the field to earn better pay working at restaurants, retail stores, Amazon facilities or other jobs.

"There's a labor shortage in every industry, ours is no different," Strick said. "It's been a challenge to hire people. There's competition with other employers in the same industry, but also other industries."

The worldwide financial crisis that began in 2008 signaled the start of a decade of stagnant wages in many fields. Private employers like New Star Services pass through funding provided by the state. When state funding levels were flat, there was no money to raise caregiver wages.

"It was 10 years before we had any kind of reimbursement increase," Strick said. "It's just been in the last few years we've seen any sort of reimbursement increase."

Lawmakers increased funding for agencies by $170 million this year, Lewis said. Legislators provided funding to raise wages for direct support personnel by $1.50 an hour, but it wasn't enough, she said.

The state increased its reimbursement rate to $16 per hour, but median wages for workers has continued to lag at about $12 an hour, according to AFSCME. The union wants legislators to fund an additional $3.50 per hour increase next year to hike the base reimbursement rate to 150% of minimum wage.

AFSCME also wants lawmakers to toughen language and require that agencies pass along reimbursement increases to workers, Lewis said.

"What we're trying to fight for in Springfield is when the state puts money toward wages, that there really needs to be strong accountability measures so that employers actually pass it through," Lewis said.

New Star Services said it has increased worker compensation in accordance with the state reimbursement increase.

"We have always done that, it all goes to employees," Strick said. "The way it gets distributed may be a little different from what the union wants but it always ends up in employees' pockets."

The issue affects numerous other agencies in the Southland and throughout the state. More than 27,000 Illinois residents live in community residential settings and rely on direct support personnel on a daily basis, according to AFSCME.

The agency and union recently resolved a dispute over year-end bonuses for employees, Strick and Lewis said. Other agencies merged to form New Star Services a few years ago. Union workers staff some residential facilities, while nonunion workers care for people in other homes owned by the same agency.

The union only represents about 10% of direct support personnel workers in Illinois, Strick said.

"Even though the state has increased funding to agencies, these agencies have not consistently or equitably passed the dollars on to front line workers," AFSCME said in a policy paper on the issue.

Poverty wages mean nearly half the people who work as direct support personnel rely on public aid, despite working full-time, AFSCME said. High turnover and vacancy rates in the field negatively affect the quality of care.

"Community disability agencies are experiencing staff vacancy rates of up to 49%, despite strenuous efforts to recruit new workers, because of rising wages in competing sectors," according to AFSCME.

The union wants the state to increase funding and assurances that agencies will raise wages for caregivers.

"Compensation is really the heart of what it's going to take to stabilize the industry," Lewis said. "There are now thousands of people on waiting lists to receive these services. They can't get services because staffing isn't there in agencies, and they can't hire and retain people at the wages they're paying."

Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.

tslowik@tribpub.com

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