More than 100 lawmakers support pay raise for direct caregivers [View all]

[hrmjustin]

By Tiffany Brooks

Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg is fighting to give direct caregivers their first wage increase in seven years.

Weisenberg, along with 102 fellow lawmakers, have sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver asking for a pay increase for the caregivers who work with the disabled in group homes and other settings across New York every day. The cost of living increase for workers would be tied to inflation.

"Thousands of direct caregivers have not had a raise for many, many years," Weisenberg said. "The last raise that I recall was 2006, when we put in a call for 1 or 2 percent because that was in the budget, so after that, nothing; nothing for these people."

According to Weisenberg, the proposal for a cost of living increase is expected to be in the Assembly's one-house budget bills.

http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-Top-Stories-c-2014-03-17-87221.113122-More-than-100-lawmakers-support-pay-raise-for-direct-caregivers.html