Party lines were crossed Friday as state lawmakers urged Governor Cuomo to allocate $45 million from his $152.3 billion executive Fiscal Year 2018 budget to give wage hikes to direct support professional (DPS) – some 120,000 workers statewide who help New Yorkers with autism, serious brain injury, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.
In a packed rally on the issue at St. Francis College, which overflowed out of the Callahan Center auditorium and into the school’s lobby in Downtown Brooklyn where a live audio feed of the days events were provided for the spillover crowd, speaker after speaker told tales how DPS workers needed a living wage, would often have to resort to food stamps and other means to make ends meet.
Among the Brooklyn lawmakers that either attended or sent representatives to the rally to support DPS were Assemblymembers Joseph Lentol (D-Williamsburg, Greenpoint), Nicole Malliotakis (R-Bay Ridge, Staten Island), Felix W. Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook), Pamela Harris (D-Coney Island, Bay Ridge) and Peter J. Abbate Jr. (D-Bensonhurst, Sunset Park); State Senators Jesse Hamilton (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, Sunset Park, Flabush), Diane J. Savino (D-Coney Island, Statin Island, and Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach); and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna.
“Every year we promise them more and more, but give them less and less” said Abbate, adding wasn’t a matter of reluctance to pay a fair wage for direct care workers, but rather a matter of priorities.
The rally was intended to vocalize the support for DPS and several times throughout the event, those in attendance broke out in the chant of the day “be fair to direct care” as they brandished several homemade signs. Lentol, the dean of the Assembly’s Brooklyn delegation, stated his unmitigated support for the cause saying, “I’m gonna forego my raise as long as you give the DSP workers a raise.”
This sentiment by all the lawmakers in attendance, including Harris, who was suffering notably from strep throat as she evoked the Laura Branigan single “How am I Supposed to Live Without You?” to describe the necessity of DSPs.
“DSP’s provide critical support for one of our most vulnerable populations, yet only earn an average anywhere from $9 to $13 per hour. Too many workers leave these emotionally and physically difficult positions for less stressful and demanding employment, often for higher wages. We must do more to attract and retain quality direct support staff and pay a fair wage,” said Harris.
Senator Golden compared DPS workers to the similarly salaried fast food workers, stating that it is an “injustice” that the “highly specialized and highly skilled workers” are being forced to leave the field for less demanding work.
“Governor Cuomo must include sufficient funding to ensure that New York State direct care workers can earn a living wage. These men and women perform critical jobs that include bathing, feeding, dressing and serving people with various developmental, physical and mental disabilities. Sadly, many of our direct care workers are forced to work other jobs in order to support and take care of their families. The Governor must adopt a funding plan that allows non-profit groups to retain qualified employees by paying a salary that allows these same workers to meet their financial needs,” Golden said.
Hamilton called for a minimum pay of $20 dollars an hour saying “You shouldn’t have to work 12 hours a day to live with someone else.” He also stated the need to give direct service professionals a licensed designation calling for paid training for such workers to get qualified and certified.
Reyna linked the salaries of direct care workers to other issues of inequity of the city. She noted that 90% of the city’s direct care workers were women, and drew the link of their salaries to the disparity in the wage gap between genders. She also noted the necessity of workers in this profession “more than any other workers in America” stating that “low wages contribute to the already strained homeless system.”
