Caregivers at Sunrise Strike for Decent Pay

Group home caregivers on the picket line in Hartford were in good spirits as the first day of their strike for livable wages and benefits came to a close. A constant drumbeat helped to keep spirits up as community members from across the city came by to join the picket line in solidarity and join in on chants of “The union is hot,hot,hot. The boss is not,not,not.” and “Fair contract now.”

Over 100 1199 members at Sunrise inc. were on strike as of 6am on Tuesday October, 12 at locations across the state. Despite workers winning over $184 million dollars in additional state funding for private sector group home agencies; Sunrise has refused to agree to a contract that would provide livable wages, affordable healthcare and a pension for its workers.

1199 members at Sunrise are predominantly Black, Latina and working-class white women who are fighting to settle a contract that is inline with their Union sisters and brothers who have already settled contracts that include increase to their wages up to 20% for those with the lowest rates of pay as well as 90% reductions in health insurance premiums in some instance.

Sunrise continues to hold its workers back by paying many of them less than $17 an hour, providing no retirement benefits and saddling them with $6,000 monthly premiums for family health insurance plans. All of this happens while the CEO continues to make $3250,000 a year.

“I’m tired. I’m drained. I’ve been at Sunrise for 24 years. It’s time that they do the right thing. No one at our agency takes insurance because it is not affordable. We haven’t had a pay raise in 15 years,” said direct support professional Jennifer Brown.

“Most of these workers are making less than $17 an hour. They have to pay $6,000 in monthly premiums for family health insurance coverage at Sunrise, and no retirement pension to look forward to in their elder years,” said Rob Baril, president of District 1199NE. “Even after workers were able to leverage more than $184 million in additional state funding from Governor Ned Lamont’s administration, Sunrise continues to deny a fair contract for its own workers while the CEO rakes in $325,000 per year.”