SEIU California and healthcare facilities in the state are making progress toward a $25 minimum wage for employees, but the process won't be speedy, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 12.
The bill, proposed in February, would require hospitals and other healthcare facilities to raise pay for these workers, including certified nursing assistants, patient aides, technicians and food service workers, effective Jan. 1, 2024.
The pay increase would take place over the next several years, per a last-minute amendment made in assembly Sept. 11. Workers at dialysis clinics and health systems with 10,000 or more employees would advance to $25 an hour by 2026; rural hospitals and those with high volumes of Medicare patients would have until 2033 to hit the raise.
Currently, California's minimum wage is $15.50 per hour. On average, a $25 minimum wage represents a 31 percent increase for workers statewide, according to an analysis from UC-Berkeley.
If the bill passes, state law will prevent local officials and unions from increasing pay via ballot measures for 10 years. Hospital leaders, formerly skeptical, are now voicing more support for the raise.
"SB 525 strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages while protecting jobs and safeguarding care at community hospitals throughout the state," Carmela Coyle, chief executive of the California Hospital Association, said in a news release.