DOWNEY – Members of local medical labor groups celebrated at city hall on Tuesday when the City Council voted 4-0 to establish a $25 per hour minimum wage for eligible healthcare workers working in Downey’s private hospitals.

The new ordinance applies to privately-owned healthcare facilities located within the city, including licensed general acute and psychiatric hospitals, hospital-based facilities, licensed dialysis clinics and psychiatric health facilities, and all facilities that are part of an Integrated Delivery System.

While the measure relates to both clinical and non-clinical staff, it does not apply to managers and supervisors.

The law also forbids cuts in hours, staffing, or services to raise wages.

The decision follows a successful petition campaign (requiring nearly 6,500 signatures) by proponents of the wage change.

Council members were given the option to send the initiative to November’s ballot for voter approval, approve it outright as an ordinance, or order an impact report to be returned within 30 days, after which they would be required to make a decision.

The push for improved wages comes as some healthcare workers – weary from working through the pandemic – argued that they were struggling to make ends meet in addition to coping with the physical, emotional, and mental burdens of their jobs.

“Healthcare workers have a unique job; this pandemic has shown that our job is unique, and that we deal with diseases that are communicable like Covid-19,” said...

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