LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Wednesday to an ordinance raising the minimum wage for people working at some health-care facilities in the city to $25 per hour.
The ordinance applies only to privately owned facilities, including hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities. It applies to workers including clinicians, nursing assistants, aides, technicians, maintenance workers, janitors, housekeepers, clerical workers and administrative workers.
Several workers spoke to the council before the vote last week, with one saying he has to work outside jobs — such as painting houses or doing construction — to make ends meet outside of his job. Another told the council that people working at health-care facilities should be able to focus on their patients without worrying about having enough money to feed their families.
“Especially during the pandemic when people were burned out from incredibly long hours,” he said. “They were burned out from people in their care dying. … Obviously all of you that are in the health-care field love helping people. You wouldn’t do it otherwise because the financial remuneration isn’t enough. Especially at this level — people who risk their lives when they could be working at Target, or working at McDonald’s … without the risk, without the hard work, without the burnout.