Last Wednesday, April 12, clinic workers from across California joined other healthcare workers united in SEIU and went to the state capitol in Sacramento to urge state senators to support for SB 525 (Durazo) and SB 779 (Stern). Appearing before the California Senate’s labor and health committees, more than 300 workers came to share their support for the bills. 

And they won one important round: The Senate Labor Committee voted to advance SB 525, marking the bill’s first important step to becoming law. This groundbreaking, first-in-the-nation, statewide healthcare worker minimum wage of $25/hr to retain and attract new workers in the healthcare field passed with a vote of 4 to 1. 

According to a recent University of California Berkeley Labor Center report, a $25 healthcare worker minimum wage would lift wages for nearly half a million healthcare workers. Three out of four workers who would see increases in wages are women, and 76% are workers of color. Almost half of all healthcare workers who would receive a higher wage are Latino.

“SB 525 passing helps my co-workers be able to work where they live, and it helps with retention and recruitment. $25 an hour will be a game-changer and provide a life where Clinic workers can have only one job instead of two or three and more life balance between work and family,” said Angel Valdez, an employee of La Clinica De La Raza and an SEIU 1021 Executive Board member.

In addition to advancing SB 525, community clinic workers spoke out in support of SB 779 (Stern) before the Senate Health Committee. SB 779 would improve the collection of data needed to understand labor trends, workforce development activities, and implications for quality and equity, increasing transparency and accountability from clinics and requiring them to provide key information on how well they’re staffing local clinic sites and how much they are investing in their workforce.  

“Community clinics should be the state’s engines of health equity, but workers know that there is significant room for improvement in attracting and retaining the diverse workforce our state needs to serve our Black and brown communities and empower workers to ensure clinics are responsive to our communities’ needs,” said Nickishia Ortiz, a substance use disorder counselor at Clinica Romero in Los Angeles. “Clinic workers came to the capitol to tell legislators what we need to make clinics better – and the Senate Health Committee listened to our experience on the frontlines. Today’s strong committee vote adds even more momentum to our fight as Community Clinic Workers United.” 

The Senate Health Committee voted to advance SB 779 with a vote of 9 to 2.

Clinic workers have seen firsthand how healthcare workers are leaving the healthcare field at alarming rates due to poverty wages, burnout, and exhaustion that result in longer wait times for patients and poorer quality of patient care.

We’re standing together with SEIU Community Clinic Workers United to help pass SB 525 and SB 779 and to make sure that clinic workers have a strong voice on the job so that we can improve care for our patients and are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.