Home Care for Maine and Alpha One Workers' Wages Protected by Contracts

With all the talk these past weeks on the proposed 10% cuts to funding to programs Alpha One and Home Care for Maine workers work in, many have expressed concern that their wages will be cut.

Alpha One and Home Care for Maine workers' wages are protected through collective bargaining agreements. If either entity wants to cut wages, they have to do so by opening their contracts and negotiating the pay cuts with workers.

There is a lot of misleading information getting passed around.

No one yet knows if the cuts will go through as proposed. The governor put it out there that cuts need to be made at 10% across the board. Appropriations and Health and Human Services Committees held public hearings on these cuts all last week. They have not made their decision yet.

Alpha One and Home Care for Maine do not yet know if these cuts will go through at the governor's recommended level. Both are speculating at this point.

It is likely that some sort of a cut will go through, keeping in mind the severity of the state's revenue shortfalls, but at this point, no one yet knows.

If 771 members have questions about their contracts, the cuts, what the cuts might mean, call C.J. Betit, 771's field rep, at 1-800-452-8794. Let him know what you've heard.