Healthcare workers deserve better

By Fabrizio Sasso
Executive Director, Sacramento CLC

Most of you know that California increased its minimum wage again at the start of the year, part of a hard-won series of increases demanded by union members.

But most of you also know that the increase is not enough. Working families can’t survive off a single, minimum-wage paycheck in California. We need living wages.

Which is why I am proud to say that this Council is working with SEIU-UHW to make living wages happen for all healthcare workers. Recently, an ordinance was introduced at the Sacramento City Council that would require a $25 minimum wage for all healthcare workers.

Healthcare workers are burned out and traumatized from the pandemic. Whether in hospitals, clinics or nursing homes, these selfless workers bore the brunt of the pain and risk of the coronavirus, literally putting their own lives in jeopardy to save ours.

Now, healthcare workers are leaving the profession in alarming numbers, in no small part due to poor pay and working conditions. Some workers, especially those in nursing homes, make close to minimum wage for their important and difficult work.

Last summer, SEIU-UHW and Labor Councils across the state took the issue head on, bringing ordinances such as the one we introduced here in Sacramento to other cities. Los Angeles and the city of Downey both passed those ordinances, showing that it can be done.

This year, we are going to make it happen in the city of Sacramento. At the same time, legislation is making its way through the state Capitol that would make the $25 minimum a California law.

The bill, introduced by State Sen. María Elena Durazo, would require health facilities and home health agencies to increase base pay for jobs such as nurse technicians, housekeepers, security guards, food workers and laundry providers.

While setting a minimum wage for healthcare workers is an issue of fairness, and one that recognizes their critical role, it also helps all workers. As wages are raised in one minimum-wage industry, it puts pressure on employers in every industry to keep pace. It gives workers in other industries bargaining power.

And the new laws also protect the workers in their own industries. They explicitly forbid employers from cutting hours, staff or services due to the higher wages.

But that isn’t the only improvement we are working on here at the Sacramento Central Labor Council. We are also crafting legislation that will address the problems with last-minute scheduling that so many workers face in service industries and other jobs. Often, workers have barely a day’s notice on what their hours will be, making it impossible to handle things such as child care or doctor’s appointments.

Constantly demanding that people be available or on-call, with no extra pay, it is an abusive and unfair labor practice. We need to make sure that workers have their schedules at least two weeks in advance so that they can plan their lives and take care of their families and their obligations outside of the workplace.

I will keep you posted on that effort and welcome your feedback and ideas.

We are making tremendous progress in the labor movement to ensure that working people have the rights and wages they need and deserve. I am continually heartened by this wave of organizing that continues across California and the United States, and the smart and effective ways unions are making life better for us all.