A referendum to block a minimum wage increase to $25 an hour for health care workers in Long Beach has qualified for the ballot, which could put the wage increase on hold until at least 2024.
The City Council approved the wage increase after an initiative by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West received enough certified signatures to qualify for Tuesday’s ballot. City leaders in August, however, said they would rather adopt the measure as an ordinance than pay the cost of adding it to the ballot to let voters decide.
However, opponents of the measure—including area hospitals like St. Mary Medical Center and Long Beach Memorial—began their own signature-gathering effort to get the wage increase overturned. Opponents submitted 40,000 signatures to stop the law from taking effect.
The City Clerk’s office confirmed Monday that 31,224 signatures were verified by county election officials. Citywide measures only need 26,829 verified signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Wage increases will now be paused until voters weigh in, but because there are no local or regional elections in the immediate future, the vote will likely be pushed to 2024.
The City Council could call a special election to speed up the process, but that could cost as much as $8.6 million, according to the City Clerk’s office. If the council had voted to place the issue on Tuesday’s ballot, it was projected to cost the city between $100,000 and $150,000.
Assistant City Clerk...
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