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Care worker unions press for $24–$25 floor, warn of staffing collapse without higher pay
Summary
SEIU locals, home care workers and labor groups urged passage of legislation establishing an enhanced care‑worker minimum wage (Senate Bill 877) and other rate‑setting changes, saying vacancy rates remain high and recruitment will fail without a living wage and rate adjustments for providers.
Unions representing direct‑care and home‑care workers told the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing that improved wages are essential to recruit and retain the workforce that supports elders and people with disabilities.
Why this matters: Witnesses linked vacancies and turnover to inadequate pay, and urged the committee to require a wage floor for care workers and to ensure MassHealth/provider rates allow employers to meet that floor.
Daniel Hoffer of SEIU Local 509, which represents roughly 25,000 human‑service workers including 5,000 direct care staff, said vacancy rates peaked near 30% during the pandemic and remain elevated. SEIU members and allied unions urged an “enhanced care worker minimum wage” — testimony cited an indexed floor of $24.25–$25 per hour — and asked that provider rates be adjusted through existing rate‑setting processes to fund the increase.
Frontline workers gave concrete accounts. Thomasina Levesque, who works in community mental health and mobile crisis response, said workers often need multiple jobs, take on debt, and leave the field because pay does not match demands. Home health workers represented by SEIU 1199 described base wages in the low‑$20s and said some employers offered only token raises during contract negotiations.
Representatives from SEIU and the Massachusetts AFL‑CIO framed the issue as a workforce crisis reliant on compensation rather than non‑financial incentives alone. Committee members asked for comparative data from other states and for details on funding mechanisms; witnesses pointed to models in California and Minnesota and to state rate‑setting as the vehicle to secure funds.
Several labor panels asked the committee to advance Senate Bill 877 and related amendments to ensure the Department for Aging and Independence and other agencies promulgate regulations that require provider rates to support the wage floor. No committee vote was taken during the session.
