Reuters reports that Massachusetts home care workers have won the nation’s first state-level $15-an-hour starting salary, after months of negotiations with state officials in an ongoing national campaign.
The pay raise is still a few years down the road. The increase will take effect July 2018, bringing the starting hourly pay up from $13.38. The Service Employees International Union Local 1199, which represents about 35,000 home care workers in the state, announced the pay bump on Friday.
Negotiations between the union and Governor Baker’s administration took five months to complete. The victory is notable as the first state-level win to raise pay among low-wage workers. The union joined with the national Fight for $15 movement, which has been calling for higher wages for America’s lowest paid workers.
While the minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009, there seems to be momentum building for higher starting wages. Cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and most recently Los Angeles have already passed laws for $15 per hour minimum wages.
A spokesman for Governor Charlie Baker’s office support the higher pay and are “pleased” that home care attendants will be “appropriately compensated for the highly specialized care they provide.”
