Unionized long-term care workers gathered at Connecticut’s Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Tuesday to demand higher wages.
They want to make a minimum of $25 an hour by 2025.
The state has a huge budget surplus, that’s why his members are demanding the wage hike ahead of Governor Ned Lamont’s budget presentation to lawmakers on Wednesday, said Rob Baril, president of SEIU District 1199 New England, the union that represents the workers.
“There’s nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the resources to end it,” Baril said.
About $700 million from the state’s surplus would pay for the wage hikes.
The 25,000 Connecticut long-term caregivers in 1199 are mostly Black and Latina. They work at nursing homes, group homes, and private homes. Their services are paid for with state and federal Medicaid dollars.
