Los Angeles hospitals are pushing back on an ordinance recently signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti that establishes a $25 minimum hourly wage for workers at eligible privately owned healthcare facilities in the city.
The No on the Unequal Pay Measure Coalition, a group that also includes other healthcare facilities and is sponsored by the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, launched a campaign July 12 to repeal the ordinance, which the mayor signed July 8, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On its website, the coalition contends the ordinance will negatively affect workers and patients.
"The Los Angeles City Council has passed a deeply flawed and inequitable ordinance that would set a new arbitrary pay requirement for some healthcare workers in some healthcare facilities in the city, while excluding thousands of healthcare workers doing the same job," the website says. "We all agree healthcare workers are heroes, but this unequal pay ordinance is deeply flawed, inequitable and will hurt workers and patients."
Mr. Garcetti signed the ordinance after the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously June 29 in favor of raising the minimum wage. The 10-0 vote came after the council voted June 21 to tentatively approve the minimum wage. Because the first vote was not unanimous, the council took a second vote.
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West has supported the measure and petitioned to get it on the November ballot in Los Angeles. The council voted on the issue instead of placing it on the upcoming ballot, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Now, the No on the Unequal Pay Measure Coalition told the newspaper it will work to obtain signatures for a referendum for the ballot to allow voters to weigh in on the issue.
The ordinance, as signed by Mr. Garcetti, affects workers in a range of roles at certain privately owned healthcare facilities in the city, such as acute care hospitals, affiliated clinics and skilled nursing facilities. Affected roles include clinicians, nurses, aides, technicians, maintenance workers, janitorial or housekeeping staff, groundskeepers, guards, food service workers, pharmacists and administrative or clerical workers. The increase excludes managers and supervisors.
According to a July 8 news release from the mayor's office, the new minimum wage becomes effective 31 days after the ordinance is published. However, if the coalition obtains nearly 41,000 valid signatures from eligible voters within 30 days, the wage increase would be at least temporarily blocked from taking effect, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In a statement shared with Becker's, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West spokesperson Renée Saldaña defended the wage increase.
"Greedy hospital executives have experienced record pandemic windfalls, yet they have no plan to address the staffing crisis plaguing Los Angeles hospitals," the statement said. "They are out of step with local voters if they think the solution is to slash wages for the caregivers who got us through the pandemic. The problem that needs to be addressed is bloated executive compensation that is driving up healthcare costs for Angelenos."
The mayor's office estimates the minimum wage increase affects about 20,000 healthcare workers.
Read the full Los Angeles Times article here.