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"We do it because we love it." Mental health and addiction workers strike for better wages and benefits

The Day - 4/25/2022

Apr. 26—NEW LONDON — Unionized workers at Sound Community Services began striking at 6 a.m. Sunday and are set to continue until 6 a.m. Wednesday, as they fight for higher wages, retirement benefits, and a greater employer contribution to health care.

Sound provides services to people with mental health and substance abuse disorders.

"It's going really good. The workers are in high spirits," said Kindra Fontes-May, elected organizer with SEIU District 1199 New England, on the picket line Monday. That's despite police responding to a noise complaint.

The union represents 73 workers at Sound, and they've been operating without a contract since 2019. The parties haven't sat down for negotiations in two weeks, and the latest offer on the table from Sound includes a $1.78-an-hour increase in pay for hourly employees and a 1% bump for clinicians.

Residential employees at Sound make $15.37 an hour while case managers are in the $17 range.

Roy Lee, a case manager at a young-adult program in New London, said he has helped co-workers get on food stamps. Darling Gonzalez said he and other workers with college degrees are also working to pay off student loans. Gonzalez said some people took pay cuts to work at Sound because of its core values.

"We do it because we love it," said Kwan Jenkins, a lead residential recovery specialist. "Anybody in their right minds is not going to stick around for the years we've done for the pay."

Fontes-May said the union is trying to achieve a pathway to $20 an hour that includes additional increases for more senior workers. She said the union hopes Sound comes to the table Wednesday with more movement.

Sound Community Services CEO Gino DeMaio mistakenly said in an email to employees Monday that the offer includes a $1,000 increase in the agency's contribution to health insurance, whereas an attached document, which DeMaio said was correct, includes an increase from $6,676.56 to $7,000.

"What's the point of giving us $1.78 if people have to pay $500 a month for health insurance?" Lee asked.

He said the union is requesting a $9,000 employee contribution to insurance. Many Sound workers get health insurance elsewhere, such as through the state, because they can't afford it from their employer.

Sound's offer comes from a 4% increase in funding this year from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, but both Sound management and the union are looking for a larger increase in the budget for the next fiscal year.

Sound is calling on the state to approve an 8% increase in DMHAS funding, which is included in the budget that came out of the legislature's Appropriations Committee.

"If we're really going after the state, why are you not out here with us?" Jenkins said, directing the question to DeMaio.

DeMaio responded to The Day, saying, "because I can be more effective in another way" — by talking to legislators about getting more funding. "It's hard to want to go out there and be with them when they're saying the most grotesque things about me."

DeMaio emailed staff Monday morning and attached the union's last offer. He opened his email with, "For those of you that had to enter the parking lot this morning as picketing is taking place, I apologize that you had to endure that."

He told The Day that he planned for no union workers to show up but some did, including all the clinicians, and that managers and non-union employees — who all have experience in the field — have taken shifts. Fontes-May said membership is holding at about 80% on strike and "are prepared to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract with wages and benefits that start to respect their work."

"We don't really want to be out here, because that is hurting our clients. We're out here because we do need a livable wage," Jenkins said. He and others talked about the importance of continuity of care, which is hindered by high turnover.

Police called on strikers

New London Police Capt. Matthew Galante said a person who didn't identify themselves called police Monday morning, wanting Sound to stop using a bullhorn. Galante said police informed the picketers that if they wanted to use the bullhorn, they had to get an updated city permit. He also said police have been driving by and monitoring, "which is what we do every time we have a peaceful assembly like that."

Mayor Michael Passero, who walked the picket line with striking workers on Sunday, questioned the applicability of the noise ordinance.

"Nobody's ever enforced that noise ordinance against the religious people that are down at Parade Plaza every weekend with a bullhorn," he said. "They don't have a permit, nobody's enforced it against them, so why are we enforcing it against the labor union? That doesn't make any sense to me."

Passero said walking the picket line "was a real eye-opener for me" and that it's "unacceptable" that workers have been without a contract for four years.

"The fact that their wages are so low for the type of work that they do and how important their services are to our community seems unacceptable," the mayor said. He called Sound "a very important partner in the city" and said he will engage with both Sound and the union to advocate for better funding.

e.moser@theday.com

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