Fountain Valley hospital union workers win raises of up to 42%
Housekeepers and cafeteria workers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center will see a series of raises that will increase wages by up to 42% over the next year and a half.
The raises will bring the hourly wage floor from $11, the state minimum, to $13, then to $14.84 by January, according to the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the union representing the employees. Another boost will bring base pay to $15.61 by January 2020.
Workers also will pay up to 20% less for their health insurance.
The workers are employed by Sodexo, a food service and facilities management company that Tenet Healthcare, Fountain Valley Regional’s operator, contracts with at several medical centers in California.
About 100 of Fountain Valley Regional’s cafeteria workers and housekeepers staged a one-day strike in February to protest what they described as low wages, costly healthcare coverage and poor staffing levels.
“These contracts are improving people’s lives,” union President Sal Roselli in a statement said. “Workers who struggle every day to support their families are getting good raises, better benefits and more respect at their jobs.”
The union says it is continuing to negotiate for Sodexo workers at Tenet hospitals in Lakewood and Los Alamitos.
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