In-home care workers braved the cold to gather at the Town Clock yesterday to protest a possible pay cut they face.
In-home care workers braved the cold to gather at the Town Clock yesterday to protest a possible pay cut they face. In an effort to contend with current budget woes, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is considering cutting their wages from $11.50 per hour to $9.50. County spokeswoman Dinah Phillips expressed sympathy with the protesters, but said that under the current economy there was not a lot that the county could do. “These wage reductions were imposed by the state not the county,” she explained. The state covers 36 percent of the homecare workers’ salaries, while the county covers 14 percent. The remainder comes from federal funding.
Care workers argued that if the pay cuts go through, they will be forced to spend less time with their clients. For many elderly and disabled clients, this means that home care will have to be replaced with institutional care, adding an additional burden to the taxpayer. Meanwhile, union representatives argue that the proposed pay cut violates the Living Wage Ordinance. According to that, private contractors doing business with the county must pay their workers $13.58, $2 more than what in-home healthcare workers currently receive.
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