SEIU-UHW members walked the picket line for the third day of strike to protest working conditions and a larger salary
SEIU protest in front of the Mosswood was in its final day of its 3 day strike
Service Employees International Union-Union Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW) members walk the picket line while playing music and listening to other members and political organizers talk in front of the Oakland Mosswood Kaiser building for the last day of the three-day strike at the beginning of October 2023. The members are on strike after September negotiations with Kaiser Management did not end with a new contract. Healthcare workers were hoping to obtain a contract that entailed a raise, and they wanted the company to recruit healthcare workers. That didn’t happen.
The 75,000-worker strike is America's largest health strike, taking over several states, including Washington, DC.
In the 2023 quarter, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals reported a net income of $2.08 billion. According to a 2020 Brookings Institution study, the median income for health workers is $13.48 an hour. The study also showed that 40% of healthcare workers rely on public assistance.
Various Organizations and people came out to support the SEIU members on the picket line. The Mayor of Emeryville John J. Bauters, who rode his bike from that city to the protest, was one of them.
“Let's be really clear,” said Bauters. “Greed has no place in the East Bay. There is no reason on… God’s green earth why the people who deliver services and care should be the last in line (to get paid).”
Retired Respiratory Tech Debra Harrison remembers when she and other staff worked a short-staffed night shift.
“There could be 6 or 7 people short a night with a 12 or 16-hour shift,” said Harrison. “This made the pressure on the staff unbearable. “We knew we weren't doing the best job we could. If we have more staff, we could do a better job with patients.”
Members like Hajar Williams expressed frustration at recruiting new members due to low competing salaries.
“When they look at the wages, pensions, and benefits package offered, they turn down the job,” Williams explained.
Alona, a patient care tech, said Kaiser has increased her patient workload throughout the years of service.
“I can have the whole floor by myself as a patient care tech and that's 24 patients,”said Alona, who has worked at Kaiser for 20 years. She said the work has taken a toll on her body.
“I am on workers' compensation right now,” she said. “I injured myself for so many years doing a lot of repetition. So basically my body aches.”
Alona also said her time with patients has decreased, which impacts medical care. For example, she now has only about 10 minutes to feed a patient with aspiration precautions, a medical condition that causes food or liquid to block the airway.
“You need 30 minutes to an hour to feed that patient,” she said. “You have to make sure the patient is swallowing when you (give) them a spoonful of food.”
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond popped up, saying that in the future, there may be a solidarity strike with SEIU-UHW, if talks between them and Kaiser management don’t continue towards a better contract for the membership.
“And if you come back out later, we will be back with the entire labor movement,” Redmond said. After hearing this, the crowd responded with riotous applause from the crowd.
Carmen Clarke, a member of the California Nurse Association, also protested with SEIU-UHW. “We don’t need our union to tell us what's right,” said Clarke. “We come out and believe what needs to be done regardless.”
Clarke said it’s important to have a supportive and helpful staff while at work, especially when you have people's lives in your hands.
“We work in an intensive care unit, where our patients can’t do anything,” Clarke explained. "So, we function as a group, and every single person on this line is a part of that group. Whether they are emptying the trash, a respiratory therapist, doctor, or nurse, we are here for the same reason."
Alona said it's important to fight now because, without the union, the management will always take monetary items the union fought so hard for in the past.
“For our future, even our pension, Kaiser tries to remove that,” she said. “They want you to use your 401k.”
Update:
Kaiser and SEIU-UHW have agreed to a tentative contract. Will provide updates as soon as they arise.
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