UC Hospital Workers Start Two-Day Strike

By City News Service

Thousands of health care workers at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UC Irvine Medical Center and University of California hospitals across the state went on a two-day strike Tuesday and began walking picket lines as they push for a new contract.

UC health officials prepared for the walkout by canceling non-essential surgical procedures at all of its centers and juggling staff to ensure patients are not endangered by the two-day strike.

Dr. John Stobo, UC's senior vice president for Health Sciences and Services, estimated the strike will cost $20 million across the five medical centers -- UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Davis and UC San Francisco.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 announced earlier this month that its roughly 13,000 patient care technical workers planned to conduct a two-day strike beginning 6 a.m.

Thousands of health care workers represented by University Professional and Technical Employees, or UPTE, a unit of Communication Workers of America, said they plan to honor the strike and will not cross the picket lines. Other AFSCME-represented hospital workers are also expected to honor the picket lines.

Patient care technical workers include technicians for ultrasounds, X-rays, MRIs, mammograms and other tests, radiation therapists for cancer patients, pharmacy technicians and respiratory therapists, according to UC.

UC officials went to court in Sacramento Monday in hopes of halting the strike on the basis of patient safety, and a judge issued a restraining order preventing about 100 workers across the UC system from taking part in the walkout to ensure that vital services would not be disrupted.

Dwaine Duckett, vice president for human resources at UC, said the injunction was "more limited than what we were seeking," and said it was wrong for the union "to put patients in the middle of a labor dispute and jeopardize essential services to them as a negotiating tactic."

Duckett noted that hospitals across the UC system were postponing surgeries due to the walkout, with around 180 delayed at UC San Diego Medical Center alone.

Tom Rosenthal, chief medical officer for UCLA hospitals, said officials would juggle non-striking staffers to ensure patient care is maintained, while non-essential surgeries have been postponed.

UCLA has postponed 25 percent of the surgeries scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a UCLA statement. The patient census, normally at or above 100 percent of capacity, has been lowered to about 80 percent, Rosenthal said.

Approximately 550 replacement workers and redeployed administration staff will fill in for striking workers in positions ranging from housekeeping staff to respiratory therapists and nursing assistants, Rosenthal said. The projected cost of the two-day strike to UCLA is more than $5 million, which reflects lost revenue and expenditures for replacement workers, he said.

At UC Irvine, about 1,700 technical care workers were joining in the strike, and UCI was bringing in about 400 replacements, said John Murray, a spokesman for UCI health services, adding that UCI officials were making arrangements to have the replacement workers get on campus without having to encounter demonstrators.

Workers who operate some of the most complex equipment, such as respiratory therapists or in the neo-natal unit, are barred from walking the picket lines, Murray said.

UCI has had to reschedule 70 surgeries because of the strike, Murray said. UCI is also limiting the number of transfers from other area hospitals unless the patients require a higher-level of care from specialists such as in the field of brain trauma, he added.

Ambulances for less serious cases will be diverted to other nearby trauma centers such as Western Medical Center in Santa Ana or Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Murray said. But anyone who walks or drives to UCI Medical Center will be treated, no matter what, he said.

AFSCME officials have insisted their strike plan will ensure patients continue to receive essential care. Kathryn Lybarger, president of AFSCME Local 3299, said the judge's ruling in Sacramento "affirms our members' right to advocate for their patients and reassures the public that there will be no imminent health and safety risks associated with this week's strike."

"The court has honored our members' commitment to protect patient safety, and to stand up to UC's unsafe staffing practices and reckless cost-cutting, which are too often putting our patients at risk," she said.

UC officials insisted that they have offered a fair wage and benefit proposal, saying the sticking points in negotiations are pension contributions, which would increase for employees from 5 percent to 6.5 percent in the most recent talks; a new tier of pension benefits for workers hired on or after July 1; and revised eligibility rules for retiree health benefits.

According to UC, the latest four-year contract offer includes wage increases of up to 3.5 percent per year over the life of the deal. Union officials, however, have accused UC of failing to negotiate in good faith and limiting worker salaries while earning millions in profits.