L.A. County Home-Care Wage Rises to $6.25

Los Angeles County’s 74,000 home-care workers will get a 50-cents-an-hour raise under their first union contract, which was overwhelmingly approved by mailed ballots counted this week.

The raise, from minimum wage to $6.25 an hour, was the maximum allowed by state legislation that provides partial funding for the program. The contract also establishes a committee to investigate acquiring bus passes for workers, who are primarily Latino and African American.

“This is a first step,” said Tyrone Freeman, deputy general manager for the Service Employees International Union Local 434B. “Now we’re going to focus on health care. Our objective is to find the funding and develop a health-care plan for these workers.”

Home-care workers voted to join the union last April in a landmark election that expanded union membership in Los Angeles by 10% and offered evidence that a scattered, low-wage work force could be organized.

Home-care workers, who are paid by a mix of county, state and federal funds, clean, cook, bathe and provide other personal assistance to elderly and disabled patients who qualify for Social Security benefits. At least a third of the unionized workers care for members of their own families.

The new wage, which takes effect in mid-September, was far less than the $7-an-hour rate projected by a lead organizer during the union vote. Pay and benefits are negotiated by the union and a county-appointed public council, composed mainly of consumers, but any additional funding must be approved by lawmakers.

State legislators approved the 50-cent raise as a temporary measure that expires next June. A bill that would continue the funding for the raise has passed both houses of the Legislature, but has not yet been signed by Gov. Gray Davis.