Health Care Workers at Children’s Hospital Oakland End Nearly 2-Week Strike

“This transition is also critical to delivering on our $1.6 billion investment in UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, which will strengthen the hospital’s role as a leading center for pediatric care in the East Bay for decades to come,” the statement reads.

As UC employees, workers would have to pay an average of $10,000 a year more toward health and benefits plans, NUHW said. Rosselli described the benefits being offered by the university as inferior to those already provided to workers under their current contracts.

In April, 98% of NUHW’s members at the hospital voted against UCSF’s integration plan, which it first proposed in January. The union filed a formal grievance in response, which it alleges Children’s Hospital Oakland has refused to process.

A hearing to compel arbitration is scheduled on July 17, according to the union. NUHW’s main legal argument against integration hinges on a stipulation in its current contracts with the hospital that prohibits subcontracting — which it said this plan amounts to.

The strike follows a series of major health care labor battles across the country in recent years, including several actions this year alone at UC medical centers throughout California, where workers have staged short strikes over alleged unfair labor practices.

On Wednesday, UCSF also announced it had issued layoff notices to about 200 employees across its system — representing about 1% of its workforce — including some front-line caregivers like rehabilitation specialists.

The decision, UCSF said in a statement, is part of a broader effort to address serious financial challenges.

Like many health systems across the country, UCSF Health has experienced rising costs of operations while facing diminished reimbursements for services,” it said. “While this is a difficult decision, it was necessary to maintain financial stability and continue to deliver the many vital healthcare services we provide in San Francisco and across the Bay Area.”

Unions representing the laid-off workers were quick to slam the move, saying it would further exacerbate UC’s systemwide staffing crisis, at the expense of patients.

“As a $10.2 billion public hospital system, UCSF Health has the resources and the obligation to retain crucial staff who are integral to delivering timely patient care,” the University Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents some of the laid-off workers, said in a statement. “The lack of notice to the union or refusal to ensure that layoffs were not needlessly disruptive reflects a disregard for patient care.”