Good morning, Chicago.
Rachel Dubose had just bought a house and started a new full-time job at the Housing Authority of Cook County as a housing specialist, helping low-income county residents obtain and maintain their subsidized housing.
She made $40,000 a year at HACC in 2022.
Her bills piled up. While she never fell behind on her mortgage payments, her credit card debt was “getting too out of control,” Dubose said. She started a part-time job at Walmart. Some days she would go straight from her job at HACC to Walmart until 10 p.m., having been up since 5 a.m. It “took a toll,” she said.
Once Dubose got engaged, the dual income allowed her to stop working at Walmart. But still, after about two years, citing the high caseloads, low pay, nepotism and favoritism by managers and general “terrible work environment,” she quit.
Dubose’s struggles to pay her bills and negative experience working for HACC mirrors that of other HACC union employees who spoke with the Tribune. The employees are working without a contract and have been for about a year. The negotiations have required the parties, who will meet today, to bring in a federal mediator to try to help reach a deal, as the union says the agency won’t agree to their current wage and health insurance proposals. Their demands include raising the salary floor to $40,000 for some workers.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Lizzie Kane.
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