(VitalNews.org) – Democrats in California have agreed to delay a minimum wage increase for healthcare workers in order to help balance the state’s budget.
Legislative leaders had an agreement with Governor Gavin Newsom as part of a larger plan to close a shortfall that the state is experiencing. California has a shortfall of almost fifty billion dollars, which makes it the second year in a row that they have had a multibillion-dollar deficit.
In the state, healthcare workers were supposed to get a raise by the first of July as part of a plan to increase their pay gradually to twenty-five dollars per hour over the next decade. For this to happen California’s revenues need to be at least three percent higher from July to September.
Dave Regan, president of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West said that the workers are disappointed that they won’t be getting their raises this summer.
He continued, “But we also recognize and appreciate that legislative leaders and the Governor listened to us as we mobilized and spoke out this year to insist that, despite a historic budget deficit, California’s patient care and healthcare workforce crisis must be addressed.”
Right now, the minimum wage in California is sixteen dollars an hour, already the highest in the nation. Since April, the minimum wage has been twenty dollars an hour for fast food workers in California. However, it’s said that an increase for healthcare workers is more difficult because the increase would directly impact their budget.
Newsom’s administration said that the minimum wage increase would cost the state two billion dollars, but with the delay, it will only cost the state six hundred million dollars.
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