SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today, frontline healthcare workers with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) submitted paperwork to place a statewide initiative on the November 2026 ballot that seeks to address the growing gap between excessive healthcare executive salaries and the realities faced by frontline workers and patients.

The proposed measure would cap total annual compensation for executives, administrators, and managers at nonprofit and for-profit hospitals and medical groups at $450,000 per year. Frontline healthcare workers say that figure is more than sufficient and believe that redirecting excessive pay toward workforce investments and patient care is long overdue.

“At a time when the average nonprofit hospital CEO makes millions while patients and frontline healthcare workers struggle with rising costs, we are simply trying to improve a broken system driven by executive excess and corporate greed,” said Mayra Castaneda, an ultrasound technologist at a hospital in Lynwood.  “Every dollar that disappears into a seven‑figure healthcare executive salary is a dollar that could shorten an ER wait, hire another frontline caregiver, or lower a patient’s bill. Healthcare dollars should go toward expanding access to high-quality, affordable care, not padding executive pay.”

Many of California’s largest health systems bring in massive annual revenues but continue to pour millions into executive pay while frontline workers struggle to make ends meet and patients can’t afford care. Healthcare workers say the current system rewards executives for maintaining the status quo, diverting resources away from patient care.

The initiative will now move through the state process to qualify for the November 2026 ballot.

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SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a healthcare justice union of more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients, and healthcare activists united to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality care for all Californians, provided by valued and respected healthcare workers. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org