Disability service workers in Calgary are rallying at McDougall Centre at noon on Thursday November 8 to bring attention to their low pay — wages that in some cases are lower than fast-food restaurants offer.
“Chicken on the Way had a sign up (advertising) $15 an hour which is 50 cents an hour more than we pay our frontline staff” says Ryan Geake executive director of the Calgary Scope Society an organization focusing on people with developmental disabilities. “This has been by far the worst year we have ever had bar none…. We’re having people just leave our field in droves.” The high turnover he says hurts organizations’ quality of care and increases risks to their clients.
On November 5 the province announced it would give $26 million to agencies that support people with developmental disabilities.” However Geake says that’s not near enough. He estimates the extra cash from the province will translate into a less than 50-cent-an-hour raise for disability service staff.
Joan Lee executive director for the Vocational and Rehabilitation Research Institute (VRRI) says wages need to immediately increase by a minimum of 20 per cent and further increase each year to keep up with the cost of living in Calgary’s overheated economy. “Underpaid staff are going to the food bank” says Lee. “Some of them are having trouble getting to work because they can’t afford gas or insurance…. We need to draw attention to the sector’s wages and lack thereof.”