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HARTFORD, Connecticut – When the U.S. government approved so-called hero wages for frontline workers as a possible use of pandemic aid funds, it suggested occupations that could range from farm laborers and childcare workers to janitors and truck drivers.
State and local governments have struggled to determine which of the many workers who braved the raging coronavirus pandemic before vaccines became available should qualify: government employees only or private employees too? Should it go to a small pool of key employees such as nurses, or should it be distributed to others, including grocery workers?
“It’s a bad position for us because your local government is trying to pick winners and losers if you want, recipients and non-recipients. So by default you say meaning or not, ”said Jason Levesque, Republican mayor of Auburn, Maine, where officials have not yet decided who will get the hazard pay from the city’s American Rescue Plan.
A year and a half into the pandemic, such decisions have political implications for some leaders as unions campaign for expanded eligibility, with workers who end up being bitterness.
“It sounds like the money is at stake, but this is a token of appreciation,” said Ginny Ligi, a law enforcement officer who contracted COVID-19 last year in Connecticut, where bonus checks are made when negotiating with unions still need to be shortened. “It’s so hard to put into words what it was like to go to this place every day, day after day. It marked us. It really did. “
Federal provisional regulations released six months ago allow state and local COVID-19 recovery funds to be spent on premium payments for key workers of up to $ 13 an hour on top of their regular wages. The amount cannot exceed $ 25,000 per employee.
The regulations also allow grants to be awarded to third party employers with eligible workers defined as those who have “had regular personal interactions or regular physical handling of items that were also handled by others” or who had an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19.
The regulations encourage state and local governments to “prioritize retrospective bonus payments wherever possible, as many key workers have not yet received additional pay for work done over many months,” while prioritizing lower-income workers.
By July, about a third of US states had used federal COVID-19 relief aid to reward workers who were deemed important, although who qualified could vary widely, according to an Associated Press review and how much they received.
A list of state allocations of hazard and premium payments dated Nov. 18, provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures, shows that funds were typically allocated to government employees such as state troops and law enforcement officers.
Minnesota lawmakers still allocated $ 250 million in aid to hero money, but they have struggled how to distribute it. A special committee failed to come up with a compromise plan and instead sent two competing recommendations to the entire legislature for consideration.
“I think every time we take another week we’re just delaying the whole process, and I think the quickest way is to get them to legislature,” said Republican Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, a member of the Committee to meet during a final month.
Minnesota Senate Republicans want to offer a tax-free bonus of $ 1,200 to about 200,000 workers they say took the greatest risk, such as nurses, long-term care workers, prison staff, and first responders.
But Democrats in the House of Representatives want to distribute the money more widely, providing about 670,000 key workers with about $ 375, including low-wage hospitality and grocery stores, security guards, janitors, and others.
Earlier this week, after the political impasse on another issue appeared to be easing, Democratic House spokeswoman Melissa Hortman told Minnesota Public Radio that she believes an agreement will be reached on pay for frontline workers and stated that there was a “fairly natural middle ground”. between the duel proposals.
Connecticut has yet to pay out one of the $ 20 million federal pandemic funds allocated by state lawmakers to key state employees and members of the Connecticut National Guard in June.
As negotiations with union leaders continue, the Connecticut AFL-CIO has increased pressure on Democratic Governor Ned Lamont, who is running for re-election in 2022, all public and private sector workers who were key workers in the Pandemic before vaccinations became available.
“The governor needs to reassess his priorities and show that these workers, who are putting themselves and their lives at risk, are paramount. I think that’s really the least he can do for these workers, “said Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. “These workers showed up for Connecticut. It is time for the governor to show up for them. “
Max Reiss, Lamont spokesman, said the numbers quoted by organized labor were “just not feasible”.
In the meantime, he said, the administration is in negotiations with state employees unions to classify the work of state employees during the pandemic and determine whether they may have moved on to other more or less risky tasks, which may have implications could whether they are receiving more or less money.
“We want to recognize the workers who went to work every day because they had to and there was no choice. And these range from people who work in government health facilities to people who plow our streets in bad weather and have to work personally, ”he said. “The next piece is that you have to make a decision about who all these people were. And there is a verification process for this. “
In some states, like California, cities are in the process of deciding how to distribute some of their federal funds fairly to help key private sector workers who may not have received additional payments from their employers.
Rachel Torres, assistant political and civil rights officer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 770, said her union is urging cities to follow the lead of Oxnard and Calabasas, who voted to include food workers this year – and provide drug stores with payments of up to $ 1,000.
“It really shouldn’t be competition between key workers. There should be money available for a lot of workers, ”said Torres.
David Dobbs and his fellow firefighters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, are upset that their city has not yet given them a share of the $ 110 million it received in federal pandemic funds. Mayor Joe Gamin, a Democrat, said in a statement that he supports the concept of premium payment, but the matter is still being reviewed to ensure that all payments are compliant with federal regulations.
“We have proven our commitment to this partnership. And I think we are feeling a little betrayed by the city right now if they don’t care about us when they came up with this godsend, ”said Dobbs, president of the Bridgeport Firefighters Association, which has historically refrained from raising wages than budget the city was in short supply. “Imagine lending your friends a decent amount of money and then hitting the Powerball and not doing things right.”
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