California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has signed an important bill, Senate Bill 525, raising the minimum wage for health care workers in the state to $25 per hour. This move aims to address staffing shortages that have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was met with celebration from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, who praised Newsom’s commitment to supporting healthcare workers. Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, stated, “Californians saw the courage and commitment of healthcare workers during the pandemic, and now that same fearlessness and commitment to patients is responsible for a historic investment in the workers who make our healthcare system strong and accessible for all.”
Since the beginning of 2022, California has been gradually increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour across all industries. However, the bill signed by Newsom establishes five separate wage increases based on the employer’s nature.
State Senator María Elena Durazo, who introduced the bill, expressed gratitude to Newsom for signing this “historic investment in our healthcare workforce” on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
A report by the University of California Berkeley Labor Center estimates that the bill will raise wages for 455,000 employees. It further reveals that the majority of those benefiting from the wage increase are women, and a significant percentage are people of color.
The wage increase will apply to employees who provide services directly or indirectly support patient care. This includes medical assistants, certified nursing assistants, aides, technicians, maintenance workers, janitorial or housekeeping staff, groundskeepers, security officers, and food service workers, as outlined by SEIU California.
Newsom’s decision comes amid a nationwide strike by over 75,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals. The striking workers are protesting against understaffing. In a statement to The Hill, a nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center criticized the company for “bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis.”
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