Local 150 Members Meet with DHHS Secretary, Issue Report Blasting Unsafe Conditions and Low Pay

March 20, 2014

Members of UE Local 150 employed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) met on March 19 with the head of that department, DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos, about many serious workplace issues. On the same day, the union publicly released to the public and the media a 25-page report on issues facing DHHS workers. (You can download the full report as a PDF file from the link below.)

Seven DHHS workers from four state facilities represented the union in the meeting. From Cherry Hospital, Local 150 Vice President and UE General Executive Board member Larsene Taylor, Janice Scanes, and Raymond Sanders; from Murdoch Hospital, Local 150 Chief Steward Kevin Yancy and Darrion Smith; Bev Moriarty from Central State Hospital; and Regina Washington from Caswell Center.

The union’s report, and its presentation to the DHHS secretary, highlight the pressing need for "Safety, Rights and Raises" for state DHHS employees. The report details new information about understaffing, a large portion of job positions being left unfilled, and alarming turnover rates. It summarizes state data on the low wages of most DHHS workers, and U.S. Department of Labor data showing how wages for North Carolina state employees lag behind national standards and increases in the cost of living. Most workers are stuck at the bottom of their pay scales, with no prospect of advancement, regardless of their seniority. Nearly 90 percent of all workers in the healthcare technician 1 classification are paid less than $27,675 a year; salaries of the vast majority of both food service assistants and housekeepers are under $24,500.

"We are glad that Sec. Wos is committed to continue to dialogue with workers," said Regina Washington, developmental technician from Caswell Center. "However we are upset by her insistence that certain upper classes of workers deserve raises, rather than direct care staff, who are the lowest paid and who receive the bulk of the injuries and stress."

Secretary Wos claimed she is helping all DHHS employees by continuing to fight for raises, but only for employees in positions that are already well-paid. She called this "strategic" and that the focus should be on what she called "the proper workforce", meaning those already in top pay grades.  She specifically mentioned that she has gotten approval from Gov. McCrory to give raises to pathologists and registered nurses. Since Was became secretary, DHHS has been immersed in scandals, including major statewide controversy over the payment of obscenely high salaries and huge raises to young political operatives from Governor Pat McCrory’s campaign who were hired into top administrative positions at DHHS for which they had no qualifications. Rank-and-file state workers – those who actually do the work, including DHHS direct care workers – are subject to a pay freeze impose by the governor.

When UE members proposed a $3,000 flat across-the-board raise for all DHHS employees, Wos responded, "If everyone gets a raise, then people only get pennies. We need to give raises to the proper workforce." This, she said, was part of her "business model". 

“OUR WAGES HAVE GONE BACKWARDS”

"The price of food, gasoline, and health insurance has gone up drastically in the last few years," said Janice Scanes, a healthcare technician at Cherry Hospital. “Our wages have gone backwards. We have had to work with our same salary for years. I had to cut corners and borrow from Peter to pay Paul just to pay my bills. The five leave days we got was a slap in the face because you cannot put gas in your car and feed your kids with leave days. We are long overdue to get paid a fair wage for our hard work."

Secretary Wos avoided meeting with the union for months. Union members conducted a demonstration in November demanding a meeting, conducted other actions, and had members of the legislator pressure the cabinet secretary to meet. Over the past several months the top brass at DHHS have been involved in a string of scandals, adding to the pressure on Wos. These include the hiring of unqualified political appointees at sky-high salaries; huge payments to a “consultant” with ties to Wos’s husband; and the department sending the wrong Medicaid cards, and someone else’s confidential medical information to 48,000 North Carolinians. Gov. McCrory’s  refusal of funds to expand Medicaid coverage will likely cost the state $16 billion over the next five years, adversely impact DHHS, and deny healthcare to as many as one-half million North Carolinians.

UE PROPOSES SOLUTIONS

The core of Local 150’s proposals are:

  • Implement all the recommendations of the NC Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration from their August 2012 report on injuries at Cherry Hospital. Expand these recommendations to all state-operated healthcare facilities. Implement Local 150’s eight-point plan for violence abatement.
  • Across the board wage increases of $3,000 for all employees in DHHS state-operated facilities.
  • In-range salary adjustments based on seniority for all employees in DHHS state-operated facilities.
  • Reform the discipline and grievance procedures to protect worker rights. In DHHS there are countless cases of unjust discipline, where workers are blamed for institutional problems, and subjected to discrimination, and retaliation by supervisors and administrators. Workers must have the right to be assisted by a non-attorney representative of their choice, including union stewards, in disciplinary proceedings and the informal step of the Office of State Human Resources’ new grievance process. The fact that a mostly African American workforce is subject to arbitrary disciplinary decisions by managers and administrators who are nearly all-white only adds to the injustice of the process.

 

Subscribe!

If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to the UE NEWS — for as little as $5/year you can support great labor journalism and receive the print edition of the UE NEWS four times per year.

You can also sign up to receive monthly UE NEWS Bulletins via email, or follow UE on FacebookTwitterInstagram and YouTube.