Considered one of New York’s strongest unions has been scheming to learn from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed adjustments to the state’s allegedly fraud-ridden $9 billion dwelling care Medicaid program, sources say.
Service Staff Native Union 1199 SEIU United Well being Care Employees, finest referred to as 1199 SEIU, seems to be attempting to massively enhance its membership and leverage the state into shelling out much more money for the Shopper Directed Private Help Program by finally rising wages for employees, in keeping with sources and paperwork obtained by The Put up.
The CDPAP — which permits New Yorkers to receives a commission to deal with family members — operates utilizing a whole bunch of companies and nonprofits that primarily work as payroll brokers between Medicaid and caregivers with minimal oversight.
A part of Hochul’s advised reforms to chop prices within the quickly rising program includes placing up an enormous contract up for bid that might consolidate the work presently achieved by the 700 middlemen companies beneath one firm chosen by the Division of Well being.
However the politically highly effective 1199 SEIU, which counts greater than 450,000 members, has been reaching out to potential bidders behind the scenes and urging them to conform to 200,000 CDPAP homecare employees unionizing beneath its umbrella and to rising their wages, in keeping with the damning paperwork.
“[The prospective bidder] and 1199 SEIU will collectively advocate for funding adequate to extend wages and advantages for client directed private assistants,” the unsigned memorandum of understanding shared with The Put up reads.
It additional states that the agency who snags the state contract “will stay impartial with respect to the query of whether or not CDPA’s select to be represented by 1199 SEIU.”
A supply accustomed to one potential contractor’s efforts to get the deal stated the agency felt pressured to signal the MOU with a view to placate the union, which has for years taken an more and more heavy hand in crafting coverage in New York.
“1199SEIU spoke to bidders who reached out to us or who we believed had been eligible to bid,” the union’s spokesperson Rose Ryan, confirmed when The Put up reached out with questions concerning the MOU and CDPAP.
A number of sources accustomed to related agreements stated it was commonplace for a union to work out a cope with a possible contractor forward of labor being awarded, although it’s way more frequent within the constructing trades.
However many additionally famous they weren’t stunned that 1199 SEIU was attempting to learn from what John Kaheny, Govt Director of presidency accountability group Reinvent Albany dubbed “one of many greatest organizing alternatives in New York to return alongside in a really very long time.”
“The truth that 1199 is pre-negotiating with all of the rivals for a state contract is that ordinary? I don’t know,” Kaheny stated.
“It’s form of an incredible flex by them that they’re in a position to have the attain and class and energy to have the ability to pull that off,” he stated.
Invoice Hammond, Senior Fellow for Well being Coverage on the authorities watchdog group Empire Middle, added: “The political world doesn’t mess with [1199 SEIU] and as a rule the political world caters to them.”
“Any bidder with the slightest understanding of what they had been moving into when getting into into this contract would know what that meant when [1199SEIU] put that piece of paper in entrance of them,” Hammond stated, dubbing the union “near being the fourth department of presidency” in New York.
Within the first half of this 12 months, 1199 SEIU’s state political motion fund committee has already shelled out round $1.4 million on political campaigns and different politics-related infrastructure.
The union additionally isn’t afraid to dispatch its members to pest legislators in Albany or knock on doorways for its favored candidates.
1199 SEIU first waged conflict towards Hochul’s govt funds proposal unveiled initially of the 12 months, which referred to as for reducing a state-funded wage enhance for CDPAP caregivers. She later floated a proposal to present the DOH extra energy to manage and restrict the middlemen companies, referred to as fiscal intermediaries.
In March, the union held a press convention with elected officers and individuals who obtain care beneath the CDPAP to lambast Hochul, claiming her plan would depart them to rot in nursing properties.
However lower than a month later, 1199 SEIU significantly modified its tune.
As Hochul and legislative leaders haggled over the state funds behind closed doorways, information leaked that her plan for the CDPAP had modified significantly — to the one which was finally adopted involving consolidating the fiscal intermediaries beneath one handpicked agency.
Some incapacity rights activists, lawmakers and commerce teams representing the a whole bunch of present fiscal intermediaries started elevating hell, whereas 1199 SEIU launched a press release supporting the brand new proposal.
“This was not one thing that we stated, ‘you understand, that is our aim on this funds to maneuver this proposal.’ As soon as it had momentum, we had been completely happy to endorse it,” 1199 SEIU political director Helen Schaub later instructed Crains.
“This was not our proposal coming into this legislative session,” the 1199 SEIU spokesperson echoed Wednesday.
Hochul’s workplace declined to say whether or not she nonetheless believes the singular fiscal middleman mannequin will management prices given the MOU agreements promise to advocate for elevating wages.
Whereas the fiscal intermediaries had been unsuccessful in stopping the overhaul from making it into the funds, they’ve since sued to attempt to cease the contract from going ahead in a minimum of three completely different pending instances.
“If Governor Hochul needs to see what a ‘racket’ truly seems like she ought to look within the mirror and across the again room the place she lower this deal,” stated Max Rodriguez, supervisor of presidency affairs, on the Middle for Incapacity Rights.
