$75 Mil Secured for Health Care Workers by Labor and Community Health Coalition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Contact: Cabot Petoia, clpetoia@gmail.com, 828-899-9239
** To book an interview, contact clpetoia@gmail.com **
LOS ANGELES – Today, during National Health Care Center Week, St. John’s Community Health alongside immigrant and civil rights groups, community health centers, and labor unions announced a hard-won victory: securing $75 million through SB 1014, which will give frontline health care workers a much-needed bonus.
The $75 million will be distributed from the Department of Health Care Services to all non-profit health care clinics in California who agree to use it to give workers a one time bonus.
In addition to the one time bonus, St. John’s Community Health is raising the minimum wage for all staff members to $25 an hour beginning on March 1, 2023. SEIU-UWH has also secured $25 an hour for hospital workers at private hospitals in cities throughout Los Angeles County.
“Today’s victory was the result of tireless organizing by clinics, community groups, and labor unions who know that health care workers – who have been through hell and back over the last two and a half years – need and deserve to be paid a living wage,” said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health. “This is just the beginning – we will continue working with and for communities continuously forced to the margins. Everyone deserves access to health, safety, and peace of mind.”
“We cannot lose sight of what this pandemic has taught us: central to our collective health are the invisible – but essential – healthcare workers who take care of us when we’re sick, and literally save the lives of our most vulnerable populations,” said Ron Herrera, President, LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. “Health care workers deserve to be paid like the essential heroes that they are – and by setting the minimum wage at $25 an hour, St. John’s is leading with their values and blazing a pathway for everyone else in the industry to follow.”
The following groups worked together to pass this victory for frontline health care workers:
CHIRLA (Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights Los Angeles)
CIELO (Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo)
Clinica Oscar Romero
HealthRight 360
LA County Federation of Labor
SEIU 721
SEIU California
SEIU UHW
SEIU 2015
St. John’s Community Health
Watts Healthcare