Democrats in the California state Senate want to require a $25 minimum wage for all healthcare workers, including housekeepers and security guards.
Golden State Senator María Elena Durazo, a Democrat, introduced a bill to the California upper house to up wages for healthcare workers and support staff.
The bill would require health facilities, like hospitals, and home health firms to pay several different kinds of employees a minimum wage of $25, including housekeepers, security guards, launderers, nurse technicians, and food providers.
“How do people survive?” Durazo claimed to local press on Tuesday. “They can’t be on the edge of becoming homeless. That’s what we’re facing.”
The bill is backed by union leaders, including the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West which represents roughly 100,000 California workers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We have a workforce that has just been through the wringer in the last three years,” SEIU-UHW president Dave Regan said. “And lots of health care workers decided, you know, this is just too difficult. It’s too exhausting. It’s too dangerous.”
Similar proposals have faced uphill climbs from the health industry in California. Last year saw the union spend $11 million in promoting the wage hike only to be outspent by healthcare facilities, who dropped $12 million in opposition.
One labor leader estimated to local press that 1.5 million workers would be receiving a required $25 minimum wage, should the bill pass and progressive California Governor Gavin Newsom sign it.
Last summer saw negotiations for the statewide $25 minimum wage push crumble in the Golden State legislature, partially because of both sides attaching the wage hike to hospital earthquake upgrades.
California politics have gotten interesting in recent days with longtime Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein of California announcing she would not be seeking re-election in 2024.
Feinstein’s retirement comes as several Golden State Democrats toss their hats in to take over the departing senator’s seat.
One such person is embattled Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., a progressive who is facing down accusations of racism and a toxic workplace culture.
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