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LA County board proposes wage hike for in-home caregivers
LA County Dec 06, 2022
In-home health care workers provide crucial assistance to the elderly and people with disabilities. | Photo courtesy of Myfuture.com/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors advanced a proposal Tuesday to boost wages over a two-year period for in-home supportive service caregivers, who have staged regular rallies over the past year outside board meetings pushing for salary increases.
For months, in-home supportive service workers represented by the Service Employees International Union, have asked the board to raise the salaries of some 196,000 workers who provide care for about 246,000 seniors and people with disabilities from $16 an hour to $20 an hour.
Under a motion authored by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Janice Hahn and approved by the board Tuesday, wages would increase by $1 an hour over the next two years — 75 cents this year and 25 cents next year. The workers are already set to receive a separate 50-cents-per-hour raise in January thanks to a state wage hike.
The county wage increase, however, would be contingent on a cost-sharing agreement with the state Department of Social Services. It would also be subject to annual reviews by the county’s CEO to ensure the county has adequate, stable and timely revenue sources to support such wage increases.
Despite the county’s support for the raise, workers attending Tuesday’s board meeting said it still wasn’t enough, continuing their push for a $20 an hour wage. Arnulfo De La Cruz, president elect of SEIU Local 2015, told the Los Angeles Times the county’s proposed increase is “a strong step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough.”
Hahn said during Tuesday’s meeting that the board share’s the goal of eventually reaching $20 an hour.
