By Joseph Gallagher
josephtgallagher@gmail.com
From the moment the Hunts Point Multiservice Center opened its doors in 1967 it was controversial. Its proclaimed mission was to help the poor, but critics said it used the federal funds that financed it to line the pockets and increase the power of its founder, Ramon Velez.
Now the center’s workers have begun demonstrating in front of the Ramon Velez building on East 151st Street, claiming that an institution that is supposed to be dedicated to improving conditions and bringing health care to the poor of the South Bronx is refusing to provide them with decent health insurance and a living wage.
“I make $38,000 a year and $50 from every paycheck goes to medical insurance,” Rudy Almodovar, a substance abuse counselor at the center, said. “Administration is getting a raise every year. Where is ours? We are staying at the same pay level.”
Almodovar, who has been at the center for three years, is also concerned with his increasing workload and unsafe working conditions. He said that his patient caseload should be about 35 clients but he is presently working with 41.
Almodovar and about 100 of his fellow workers voted to join District Council 1707 three years ago. The union, which represents about 25,000 employees of private non-profits, has been unable to reach a contract agreement since then.
Union representative Anthony Rios, says there has been no movement from management since this past summer’s negotiations and his calls to the center’s executive director, Manuel Rosa, have gone unanswered.
Rosa was reluctant to speak about the controversy.
“We are in the middle of a contract negotiation. Negotiations take a long, long time before they are consummated, and my preference is not to negotiate in public,” he said.
He added, “This is between the Multi-Service Center, the union representatives and the employees. So, we will continue to discuss the open items with them until we have a fair contract for everyone concerned.”
However, the employees are growing increasingly impatient with management and are also concerned with their working conditions at the facilities.
A reporter for the Express walked from the street entrance of the Jackson Avenue site about 50 feet to the elevator without being stopped by security guards, although a guard sat at a desk next to the elevator. The building houses a children’s day care center, along with mental health services and drug and alcohol counseling. There is an outdoor playground on the site as well.
Wanda Rosa has been an employee with the center for 20 years. She works with the Head Start program at the Jackson Avenue facility. She is concerned with a lack of security cameras in the building.
“Up until now nothing has happened, “Rosa said. “But my concern is that our door is open and we don’t have any cameras to see who is coming in”.
“That’s a dangerous atmosphere to be working in,” said District Council 1707 organizer Andrew Hackman, who said the absence of security cameras and lax building oversight leaves children and staff vulnerable to erratic behavior by volatile clients.
“I had a client take out a knife on me,” Almodovar said. “Where is the security?”
Workers say they have been systematically harassed by management. A year ago the National Labor Relations Board ordered the center to pay over $150,000 in back wages to employees who were unfairly fired, according to a settlement agreement. Harvey Mars, attorney for DC 1707, said that the employees were fired for “union organizing activities.”
Some current employees charge that their health insurance was cut off, an accusation that Rosa denies.
“They told me, Ms. Coll, you’ve been cut off,” said Candida Coll, 56, adding, “they never told me why.” Coll, who works for the Methadone program on Jackson Avenue, claims her benefits were stopped but later reinstated.
“Everyone has their health insurance and there was never a lapse in coverage,” Rosa insisted in a phone interview.
The union has yet to hear from Rosa himself as to when contract negotiations should be finished.
“We’ll be reaching out to them slowly and try to consummate when we can,” Rosa said. “It’s in our best interests to consummate as soon as possible.”
Union representative Rios thinks this is a “typical tactic.”
“They say ‘yes’,” Rios said. “Then they back off.”
A version of this story appeared in the November issue of The Hunts Point Express.