Downey officials celebrate new minimum wage for healthcare workers
DOWNEY – Downey leaders are lauding the City Council’s recent decision to give eligible healthcare workers a $25 per hour minimum wage, despite a recent report indicating that most Downey medical workers would be excluded from the policy.
“As the daughter of a mother who has invested her entire career in the healthcare industry, I understand the sacrifices and commitment healthcare workers make in order to take care of everyone else before themselves,” Mayor Blanca Pacheco said in a statement released by the city. “This ordinance will ensure they are compensated fairly.”
Council members voted 4-0 (with Councilwoman Claudia M. Frometa abstaining) on July 12 to adopt the minimum wage at covered healthcare facilities, which include licensed general acute care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, dialysis clinics, psychiatric health facilities, and health clinics operated by a general acute care or psychiatric hospital.
Also covered are facilities that are part of an integrated healthcare delivery system.
The wage law does not apply to managers or supervisors.
“The work that workers do at all staff levels in the healthcare industry is vital in keeping our community healthy,” Mayor Pro Tem Catherine Alvarez said in the same statement provided by the city. “Now more than ever workers continue to feel the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic and are very much deserving of this ordinance.”
The law is scheduled to go into effect Aug. 12. City officials said they will notify affected facilities and “provide support for implementation.”
Downey is the second city in Southern California to pass a minimum wage for healthcare workers after Los Angeles.
“Many healthcare workers feel underappreciated, and like they’re not being fairly compensated for their work,” Gabe Montoya, an emergency room assistant at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, said in a statement provided by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. “I’ve seen people leave for better-paying jobs, especially as the risks of working in a hospital increased during the pandemic. A fair minimum wage will help struggling families and stop healthcare workers from leaving their jobs.”
The ordinance is not without its critics. George Greene, president and CEO of Hospital Association of Southern California, called the minimum wage laws “deeply flawed, unfair, and discriminatory, creating arbitrary and harmful public policy.”
Greene referenced a report from Berkeley Research Group which found that 79% of healthcare workers in Downey are excluded from the ordinance adopted by the Downey City Council.
“We believe there are better ways to recognize the heroic work of healthcare workers,” Greene said.
Opponents of the measure said the ordinance would increase healthcare costs at covered facilities “by hundreds of millions annually” and lead to facilities reducing services or shutting down altogether.