Home Care Aids at Sea Mar Community Health Centers will hold an informational picket in Seattle on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to raise concerns about their treatment and wages. These 52 workers provide essential services to vulnerable members of our community, allowing them to stay in their own homes rather than being institutionalized or moved into a living facility. Ironically, Sea Mar Home Care workers are now left vulnerable themselves due to management’s unwillingness to bargain over better working conditions and pay.
“We are already short-staffed; we continue to lose staff who find jobs with better pay and benefits. Sea Mar needs to invest more in us so we can continue to be there for our community,” notes Maria Diaz, union bargaining team member and Sea Mar staff.
WHO: Sea Mar Home Care workers, community allies, and elected officials
WHAT: Informational picket and rally for worker dignity and respect
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 14, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Sea Mar Dental Clinic, 8915 14th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
Home Care workers are understaffed and underpaid, which causes distress, higher chances for mistakes or harm, turnover, and other consequences. While they stagnate wages that are already under market value, executives are walking away with lucrative salaries. The base pay for Home Care Aids is minimum wage. Sea Mar Deputy Director, Mary Bartolo, makes a salary of $848,000, while the Executive Director, Rogelio Riojas, makes a whopping $1.6 million.
Every year, Sea Mar Home Care wages fall farther behind similar agencies nearby, with some workers reporting a 10-20% raise immediately upon transferring to the same position at another organization. It takes an average of 9 years to get a raise above minimum wage. Despite government funding increasing annually, wages at Sea Mar Home Care remaining unchanged shows management’s lack of equitable investment in the workforce.
“We find the inequity on display at Sea Mar highly disturbing,” says Corinne Cosentino, OPEIU Local 8’s Business Manager. “These workers enter the homes of Seattle’s most vulnerable communities to perform essential services that directly change lives – and that sometimes save them, too. Why does Sea Mar keep failing to support their workers?”
Sea Mar workers are asking that community members and allies support them at this informational picket on Oct. 14.