Workers fight for fairer wages
By Rita Savard, The Lowell Sun- 12/03/2007

LOWELL -- James Matu spends many nights on strangers' couches.

Washing, feeding and tending to the elderly, sick and mentally disabled, Matu says he's there because, "I want to be."

But Matu, who works two full-time jobs to make ends meet, is one among 700 Greater Lowell human-service workers complaining that wages are well below the cost of living. Joining forces with colleagues, legislators and disability advocates, Matu helped kick off the Campaign for Quality Human Services Thursday -- a statewide effort to fight for a modest raise in wages.

Workers are overburdened, underpaid and in a constant state of flux, said Cliff Cohn, a spokesperson for Service Employees International Union, Local 509.

The result is a 50 percent turnover rate at most agencies.

"After one year, half the staff is all new," Cohn said. "It's debilitating the quality of care for the state's most vulnerable people. But the workers just can't live on these wages."

Put yourself in the shoes of a parent, asked Israel Pierre.

"Imagine your child coming back each week telling you their schoolteacher has been changed," said Pierre, who works with at-risk youth at the Eliot Community Re-entry Center of Lowell. "It would create a very unstable environment. "

Stability, he ads, is everything when it comes to helping people who live with developmental disabilities.

But with wages similar to an entry-level position at Wal-Mart or any fast-food chain, workers say they get burned out from juggling two to three jobs at once.

The average pay is about $10.50 an hour for a job that is very demanding, said Cohn.

House Bill 1863, The Quality Care Fund, was filed by state Rep. Marty Walsh, D-Dorchester. The legislation seeks to give workers a $2 wage increase, Cohn said.

State Rep. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, supports the measure, saying constant turnover in the human-services field results in many concerns and mistakes made in hospitals and health centers.

"People who are essentially doing God's work should be able to earn a living wage," Eldridge said.

Matu said he works 30 hours a week for Life Links in Chelmsford, and another 40 hours for an agency in Billerica. He spends a lot of his waking hours day dreaming about sleep and wishing he could spend more time with his 2-year-old daughter.

"By the time I get home at night, my daughter is already sleeping," Matu said. "It breaks my heart."

Most people who work in the home health-care field get involved because they love the work, Matu added.

But with families of their own to support, many feel stuck.

Race, gender, the kind of job you have, "no matter what classification you put on us, we each deserve dignity," said Pastor Laurel Scott of the Centralville United Methodist Church. "We each deserve a living wage."