Union with 18,000 health care workers will protest at Dignity Health’s California hospitals
A union representing 18,000 health care workers at Dignity Health plans a series of protests outside 26 of the company’s California hospitals and outpatient centers, including Sacramento’s Mercy General, starting Thursday and continuing to Mar. 31.
Workers in the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West said they are fed up with being chronically understaffed in nearly every department and want the company to address it.
“We are so short-staffed, we only have time to see the sickest of the sick,” said Andrea Tuma, a respiratory therapist at Dignity’s Mercy Medical Center in Redding. “Those with chronic, non-urgent needs have to wait, usually until those needs become urgent. We end the day feeling like we didn’t do enough when we did everything we could.”
The union and company have been negotiating a new labor contract since Jan. 26. Their current five-year contract expires April 30.
The company issued a statement, saying: “Dignity Health recognizes the right of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) to engage in informational picketing, and we take the concerns of our employees seriously. During the informational picket, our hospitals will remain open, and all services will continue to be available to our community.”
In communications with members, SEIU-UHW slammed the company for offering annual raises of 3% as consumer prices soared 6.5% last year. The union said the Dignity should have offered at least 6%.
SEIU-UHW represents workers in a number of fields: respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, dietitians, laboratory assistants, social workers, environmental services/housekeeping, and others who provide direct patient services.
They plan protests between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., unless noted, on the following days:
▪ 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Mercy General, 4001 J St., Sacramento
▪ Friday at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, 2550 Sister Mary Columba Drive, Red Bluff
▪ Monday at St. Joseph Medical Center, 1800 N. California St., Stockton
▪ March 21 at Mercy San Juan Medical Center, 6501 Coyle Ave., Carmichael
▪ March 24 at Dignity Foundation, 3000 Q St., Sacramento
▪ 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 27 at Mercy Medical Center of Redding, 2175 Rosaline Ave.
▪ 1-3 p.m. March 27 at St. Joseph Behavioral Health Center, 2510 N. California St., Stockton
▪ March 29 at Woodland Hospital, 1325 Cottonwood St.
▪ 1-4 p.m. March 29 at Mercy Hospital of Folsom, 1650 Creekside Drive
▪ March 30 at Sacramento’s Methodist Hospital, 7500 Hospital Drive
Dignity Health is a unit of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, the second-largest nonprofit health care chain in the U.S.
