Bring your ‘best self’ to work: Jackson Health System raises minimum wage to $15/hour
The Jackson Health System announced Tuesday that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour, affecting about 900 employees.
“We’re proud to pay all our employees a fair and living wage, so that they can bring their best self to the work place and so that we can recruit the best of the best,” said Carlos Migoya, the CEO of Jackson Health System, noting the highly competitive market amid a nationwide labor shortage.
“It’s especially important as we learn that each new COVID-19 mutation can skyrocket us to high volumes of patients again,” he said of the urgency in making sure the hospital is fully staffed.
Jackson’s minimum wage increase — well above what’s required by law — comes days after Florida saw its first minimum wage hike, to $10 an hour, as part of a series of incremental raises approved by voters in a referendum last year that will eventually hit $15 an hour in 2026.
The Jackson minimum wage increase will affect all hourly employees in its facilities, which includes security officers, groundskeepers, patient care technicians, transporters and nutrition workers. The health system is one of the largest public health systems in the United States and includes seven hospitals, two nursing homes, urgent care centers and corrections health services.
Currently, about 10% of the system’s labor force makes less than $15 an hour. According to MIT’s living wage calculator, a single adult has to make at least $16 an hour to be able to afford to live in Miami-Dade County.
The new minimum wage is part of a three-year contract negotiated by the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Committee of Interns and Residents and was approved Tuesday by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.
“This first pandemic in our lifetimes has been grueling, our caregivers are exhausted,” said Martha Baker, a registered nurse and union organizer. “Our caregivers deserve every penny they got in negotiations and more.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 2:53 PM.
