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maximus
Workers Who Help Americans Get Healthcare Benefits Deserve Fair Compensation
Companies like Maximus that are getting so much government money should have to create good jobs with liveable wages, decent benefits, and the right to unionize.
May 24, 2024
I love my job.
Every day I get to answer phone calls from some of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act and help them get the healthcare benefits they need.
Even though I do an essential job, my employer—the federal call center run by Maximus in Tampa, Florida—does not pay me enough or provide me with the healthcare benefits needed to be able to treat my own health condition.
Maximus signed a 10-year deal worth $6.6 billion in 2022 to field calls about the federal healthcare marketplace and Medicare. The company has 10,000 employees across 12 call centers, mostly in the South and Southwest.
I’m supposed to visit the doctor every three months to treat a chronic health condition, but because our deductibles are so high, I haven’t been in two years.
Companies like Maximus that are getting so much government money should have to create good jobs with liveable wages, decent benefits, and the right to unionize—the same conditions that federal workers enjoy. President Joe Biden has taken some important steps, especially to set high standards for construction workers on new big infrastructure and clean energy projects. But more needs to be done to make sure service contract workers like me get a fair reward for our labor—instead of letting so much of public money go to rich executives and shareholders.
While many of us at Maximus who field calls all day make around $17 an hour, our CEO, Bruce Caswell, got a 17% raise last year to $7.3 million. Over the past four years combined, Maximus has awarded Caswell over $27 million and spent over half a billion dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to enrich shareholders.
This September will mark 10 years of working at Maximus for me. My only major raise in that time came when President Biden set the minimum wage for all federal contract workers at $15 dollars in 2022. While we appreciate the pay hike, for a single mother of two the minimum doesn’t cut it, I need a real living wage. Instead, my only raise in the last two years was 22 cents.
Our healthcare benefits aren’t much better. I’m supposed to visit the doctor every three months to treat a chronic health condition, but because our deductibles are so high, I haven’t been in two years.
Because of the issues with pay and healthcare, last year I joined the campaign to unionize Maximus workers with the Communication Workers of America. The process is long, and different locations are moving at different speeds, but we’ve already had some victories.
After we protested our high health costs, Maximus dropped our health insurance deductibles significantly.
We need more help, though. I’ve participated in several protests at my call center demanding $25 an hour and increased benefits from Maximus.
I’ve also gone to Washington, D.C., to call on the Biden administration to follow through on its promise to create “good jobs” with federal money. Last fall I even got to take my daughter with me to speak with lawmakers in Congress.
I’m not going to quit because I don’t feel properly valued or because the benefits are not good. I’m going to stay and fight within the company to make it better, because the ACA is a great program that is helping millions of Americans.
And even though I know that I can be fired at any time—Maximus laid off more than 700 employees in one month last year—I’m standing up for my rights. I’m standing up for a better company and for a better future for my children.
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The Biden Admin Has Failed Federal Contract Workers
The administration has the power to use public money to ensure contractors like Maximus pay living wages and engage in fair employment practices.
Nov 19, 2023
As a federal customer service representative, I help seniors access the healthcare they need through Medicare. I often handle hundreds of calls per day to sign people up, answer their questions, help them navigate billing, and more.
The hard truth is that despite working for the largest federal call center contractor, Maximus, I don’t have access to affordable health coverage for myself or children, and my pay is so low I’m struggling to stay afloat. That’s why I went on strike this November with hundreds of my co-workers who are experiencing similar struggles.
It’s not easy navigating our healthcare system, and I take pride in making sure the process is as painless as possible for seniors who feel frustrated by it. Sadly, I know that feeling all too well.
We need the administration to follow through on its commitment to use federal dollars to create good jobs and end the two-tier system in which we’re expected to do similar work to federal employees but aren’t paid enough to support our families.
Unlike workers directly employed by the government, who are paid living wages and receive good benefits, I make $16.20 per hour—the minimum allowed for federal contract workers. My children and I live in a home that’s owned by my children’s grandparents. If it wasn’t for their help, we’d likely be homeless.
While Maximus rakes in billions in federal dollars, I’ve had to go without meals to ensure my children have food on the table. Over a year ago, my son had an allergic reaction and had to go to the emergency room. I still have medical debt from that visit because my health insurance from Maximus doesn’t cover a lot of costs, and I can’t afford the bill.
Nobody should have to endure this kind of hardship, especially while working for a company with a $6.6 billion federal contract that’s spent $20 million on CEO pay and hundreds of millions of dollars on stock buybacks.
As our one-day strike showed, I’m not the only one struggling at Maximus. A new report shows that 9 in 10 surveyed workers at Maximus report having medical debt or having to avoid or postpone medical treatment due to cost. And 91% report earning significantly less than the living wage needed to sustain a household with children.
Our employer is well aware of these issues. In the call center where I work, Maximus announced a program that asks us to donate used clothing for co-workers who may not be able to afford new clothes. It would be better to simply pay us a living wage.
In our call centers in Mississippi, Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Texas, and Louisiana, many of my coworkers are Black and Latina women like myself. We make up close to a majority of the lowest-paid workers at the company. This is not a coincidence.
We’ve been sounding the alarm for years about this, and we’ve been disappointed by the failure of the Biden administration, which pays Maximus to run its Affordable Care Act and Medicare call centers, to make things better.
The administration has the power to use public money to ensure contractors like Maximus pay living wages and engage in fair employment practices.Yet they awarded Maximus another massive contract just last year—and haven’t taken any steps to address our demands for living wages and affordable healthcare.
We need the administration to follow through on its commitment to use federal dollars to create good jobs and end the two-tier system in which we’re expected to do similar work to federal employees but aren’t paid enough to support our families.
The Biden administration says they believe healthcare is a right not a privilege, that federal money should be used to create good jobs, and that Black women are the backbone of their coalition. I stand with hundreds of my co-workers to say: prove it.
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