Behind the Red Tape: At long last, New York City announces cost-of-living adjustments for human service workers
NEW YORK -- New York City is finally recognizing the contributions of the tens of thousands of human service workers who for decades have been underpaid and underappreciated.
On Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams announced $741 million in cost-of-living adjustments for around 80,000 workers in the city.
The people we're talking about are home health care aides and food pantry workers, people who work in community health clinics, provide child care and deliver meals to home-bound seniors. They stepped up during the pandemic and have continued to help New Yorkers in need even when the pay was so low it left them in need.
Their stories are heartbreaking.
"New York City with no [cost of living adjustment] has meant going without, telling my children they can only have items on sale or I'll try to find it online, which they have figured out means please stop asking. We cannot afford it right now," social case worker Autrice Wildman said.
Wildman has worked as a social service worker for a nonprofit agency for more than 17 years, and like the others gathered on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, she struggled to make ends meet as the city dragged its feet in increasing her wages for nearly a decade.
There were cheers as the mayor arrived to announce that, finally, they were getting a cost-of-living increase of nearly 9.3%. There was a mixture of joy and relief that the stress of making ends meet might be about to end.
"Without this [cost of living adjustment] we had to pick and choose. Do we get pork chops or do we get canned Spam? Do we get eggs or do we get broccoli? Which produce do we really need this week or this month? Now, with this raise, I can now get all of those things," Wildman said.
For nearly a year, CBS New York has been telling you about the plight of human service workers and the red tape involved in the nonprofits they work for in getting paid.
- 66% are female
- 46% are women of color
Women like Jewell Campbell, who told CBS New York she just didn't know how much longer she cold afford to do the job she loves, creating after-school programs at Public School 6 in Manhattan and still take care of her family.
"It's hard to live in the city when you're not being paid enough. I actually work part-time on Sundays just to make sure to make ends meet," Campbell said.
Although the raises come two years into his administration, the mayor admitted it was personal for him. His late mom, Dorothy, was a food service worker at a day care center.
"I knew what the children ate every day because she brought Tupperware bowls and recycled aluminum foil to wrap up the leftovers, and brought it home to the family to eat," Adams said. "You have employees going out helping people who are in need and then have to come home and not give to their families that are in need."
The administration has also worked to clear up the miles of red tape that prevented the organizations from being paid on time. Officials say that, so far, they have cleared a backlog of $6 billion in contract payments to nonprofit providers.
