PROVIDENCE, R.I. Health technicians at the Providence VA Medical Center picketed Tuesday during their lunch hour as part of an ongoing campaign for a raise. While center clerks recently received one, health technicians did not and now earn about $5,000 less a year, according to organizers of the campaign.
Kerrie Carmody, one of the organizers, said the clerical raises were part of the the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs responses to the disclosure last year that dozens of veterans in the Phoenix, Arizona, VA system had died while waiting for care.
When the debacle there in Arizona happened, Carmody said, they decided to increase everybody that did scheduling and clerical work to a higher pay grade. Thats fine. But we do all of those peoples jobs on daily basis and we also do clinical aspects. Those people cannot do our job. They do not have the ability or skills.
Carmody said that health technicians now make from about $33,000 to $38,000 a year. With their raises, she said, clerical workers make about $5,000 a year more.
The local administration has been working to resolve the disparity, she said, and is sympathetic to their cause. The picketing, on public property at the main entrance to the medical center, will continue on the technicians own time during lunch hours and after work until the disparity is resolved, Carmody said.
This isnt going to go away, she said.
