Cooper University Hospital raises minimum wage to $15 an hour

CAMDEN – Cooper University Hospital's critical care technicians, food service workers and other full-, part-time and per diem employees are about to get a raise.

The Camden-based health system announced Tuesday in a news release that it was raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour, effective Jan. 1. Cooper's chairman, George E. Norcross III, said it was the first health system in New Jersey to raise its minimum wage to $15.

The new wage affects about 10 percent of Cooper's 7,500 employees, the company said. About 250 of those employees are residents of Camden, while about 450 live in Camden County.

He called on other health systems in New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania, by way of letters to their respective CEOs, to do the same.

The $15 hourly wage translates to about $31,200 a year. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator, an adult living in Camden County needs to earn $12.58 an hour to survive. For an adult with one child, that rate rises to $26.93, and for an adult with two children, $31.61 an hour is considered a living wage.

That calculus includes annual housing expenses of $10,140 for a single adult and $14,532 for an adult with one or two children. For adults with children, child care is estimated at $8,808 annually for one child and $13,832 for two children. Medical expenses, food, transportation and "other" expenses are also included in the calculations.

In a phone interview with the Courier-Post, Norcross acknowledged that, given New Jersey's high cost of living, $15 an hour "is not nearly sufficient," especially for people trying to raise a family.

"But given the lack of initiative on the part of the government at the state and federal levels, we need to start somewhere, and we need to do it expeditiously."

"The problem with government is that it rarely moves swiftly," he said, and so it falls to the private sector to raise wages for working people.

"This should be a no-brainer, and I mean that literally," Norcross added. 

"These people are already working. They're getting up every day and going to work and doing the best they can to support themselves and their families.

"That should be enough for myself and other corporate leaders to give them a chance to pursue the American Dream."

The decision, Norcross said in the news release, illustrates that "we believe investing in our employees is a smart business decision that will pay dividends in the long run by helping us attract and retain talented people who will ultimately improve the health care experience for our patients."

In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy called the move "a meaningful long-term investment in both (Cooper's) workforce and in the local economy."

He urged the state Legislature to enact a a $15 minimum wage for all employees, saying it "needs to act now to close the wage gap and give working families the boost they need to afford life's essentials and build for a strong future."

In his letter to his fellow executives, Norcross wrote that "while there is undoubtedly a cost that comes with this decision, the benefit it provides to the people who make our organizations run and the patients they serve clearly outweighs the cost."

“The Jefferson academic and clinical enterprise, which has grown significantly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has been reviewing this issue for several months and plans to make its own announcement regarding minimum wage status in the near future,” said Jefferson New Jersey spokeswoman Nicole Pensiero.

"Inspira Health is moving toward a $15 per hour minimum wage," said Inspira spokesman Paul Simon. "By next year, 97 percent of all employees will be above $15 per hour."

Kathy McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Virtua Health System, said the company had no comment.

A representative from Lourdes did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

But Norcross, pointing to the 2017 federal tax overhaul and surging corporate profits — particularly in health care — said that "the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen, and while it might not happen in my lifetime, (failing to address income inequality) will cause major economic turbulence in this country."

To address that gap, he said, "the place to start is large, profitable institutions that can easily afford to make this happen ... It's sorely needed and long overdue."

Phaedra Trethan: @CP_Phaedra; 856-486-2417; ptrethan@gannettnj.com

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