Fidelity House workers plan to strike for a day

Eagle-Tribune

By J.J. Huggins
Eagle Tribune / May 20, 2008

LAWRENCE — Employees of Fidelity House Human Services plan to strike at 9 a.m. today because their bosses will not give them a 1 percent raise.

The strike will last one day, and the workers will be back on the job tomorrow.

Fidelity House is a private, nonprofit agency serving 600 local people with developmental disabilities. It handles case management, behavioral consultation and parent training.

"We don't want to jeopardize their care, but we want management to know we're serious," said Joyce Fusco of Lawrence, a case manager who has worked for Fidelity House for 25 years.

Fidelity House Executive Director Yvonne Allard said the company can weather the strike.

"We have enough employees and managers that are willing to work and cover," she said.

Workers plan to strike outside the company's 1 Parker St. office.

The union has some 200 members and this is their first time striking. They have been to the bargaining table five times and the other side has denied their raise request every time, union members said.

However, Allard said in a press release that all union members received a 2.3 percent raise in the past year.

Ruth Moskowitz, a union representative for the Service Employees International Union Local 509, acknowledged the employees did get the raise, but said that came from state money the union lobbied for. She said the company is not using any of its other money to pay for employee raises.

"They just sort of sit back and the money that the Statehouse has earmarked for them, that's all they're willing to give," she said.

So if management did give employees the 1 percent raise they're seeking, the employees would get a total raise of 3.3 percent, according to Moskowitz.

Allard also said most workers received a step increase of 1 percent to 2 percent, which is when someone's pay is increased based on how long they have been on the job.

Moskowitz said employees only get step increases during their first four years at Fidelity House.

Union members said low wages result in high turnover, which is detrimental to the clients.

The union audited the company's finances and found the company has the money, it said. It also said administrators got raises while lower-level employees didn't.

Allard's press release countered that "Fidelity House's contracts with the state have been level funded for 21 years and that Fidelity House has the second lowest reimbursement rate among all similar programs in the region."

Since 2004, the company has paid $164,000 in raises that were not funded by the state, Allard added.

Union members said they'll return to the bargaining table after today's strike, but they don't know what they'll do next if they cannot resolve their differences with management.