By Ross Marrinson
rmarrinson@hgazette.com
—
Nancy Bousnakis has worked at Career Resources Corp., a Haverhill-based employment agency, for the last six years.
She is one of 31,500 human-services workers across the state who work under fixed contracts with Massachusetts to provide essential services to the area's most vulnerable residents. In her case, she helps provide work for people who are mentally challenged and have other handicaps.
Bousnakis makes less than $40,000 per year. Like the rest of her colleagues in the human-services sector, she hasn't received even a cost-of-living salary bump since 2009.
The state House of Representatives released its version of the 2012 budget last week, and it didn't include a "salary reserve," which would have given such workers a pay raise.
Last Wednesday, state Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton, filed an amendment that would provide a cost-of-living raise for the 31,500 human-service workers making less than $40,000 per year. The amendment, if adopted, would place $28 million into an account to give the workers a raise of roughly $18 per week, or $936 per year.
"These are the folks who take care of the most vulnerable people in Massachusetts," Balser said. "Even recognizing that we're in very difficult economic times, I still felt it was important to try to raise the issue that these human service providers work at very, very low wages, and the salary reserve is one way to support their work."
The budget proposed by the House would cut overall spending by 2.2 percent, the largest single-year reduction in two decades.
Even with the cuts, Balser said supporting these workers is in the best long-term economic interests of the state.
"A strong human-service sector is part of a strong economy," she said. "There are thousands of people who are able to keep their jobs because a family member is being served by a human-service provider. All of these groups are dependent on a system of care. It's really about wanting to keep this sector strong."
Even without a salary hike, Bousnakis continues to help her clients find employment.
"I just totally love it. I love the people,'' she said. "It's rewarding work, and you can make all the difference in people's lives. This kind of work, you need to love it, and you need to love the people."
Michael Weekes is the president and CEO of the Providers' Council, the largest statewide membership association for community-based organizations providing social, rehabilitation, education and health care services. He said his organization recognizes the difficulty of asking for $28 million during these tough economic times.
"It's really about fairness to the 31,500 low-paid human-service workers who are having a difficult time making ends meet, and meeting the rising costs of health insurance and living expenses in Massachusetts," Weekes said. "We know that this is really about priorities and values, and we don't think that there's any higher priority than the care of those who are among the most vulnerable people in our society."
Haverhill's Claire Petrillo is in a similar situation to that of Bousnakis. Petrillo is an outreach worker at Vinfen, a leading mental health provider in the state. She said that while she "loves helping people," it's difficult to provide for her four children without a pay raise.
Petrillo was forced to move her family back into her parents' home, while her husband is serving a tour of duty in Iraq.
"We have four children to take care of and feed and clothe, and we're living in my parents' house right now," she said. "It makes me feel like less of a mother that I can't provide for them."
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