WATSONVILLE — Nearly 200 union workers at Watsonville Community Hospital voted Monday to authorize the launch of a three-day strike alleging unfair labor practices.
The frontline health care workers are members of Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West and voted by a margin of 98% to give the union authority to call for a strike if necessary. United Healthcare Workers spokesperson Maria Leal said the vote does not establish specific dates for a strike but essentially means that employees are ready to strike if necessary.
“They decided that, if they have to go on a three-day unfair labor strike, they will do it,” she said.
Leal said there is a bargaining session scheduled for Thursday where union members and hospital staff will consider a resolution.
“They’re hoping that they can reach a resolution that date, but if they do not, that’s when they will schedule the dates of when they will go out and strike,” she said.
The union is accusing the Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board of Directors, which operates the hospital, of refusing to acknowledge the staffing and patient care crisis at the facility and not bargaining in good faith, according to a union news release. Leal also claimed that hospital management tried to implement changes to health care policy without bargaining first.
“They’re trying to give them higher premiums, higher monthly payments,” she said. “They’re not trying to bargain that at the bargaining table.”
This, the union claims, has caused employees to struggle to meet patients’ needs and has forced frontline caregivers to leave for jobs in other communities like Santa Cruz.
“We can’t keep good people here anymore,” Emily Tiongsan, a lead clinical lab scientist, said in a statement. “New workers come here, get a little experience, and then move on, leaving us constantly understaffed.”
Hospital employees last went on strike in 2018 when the facility was owned by Tennessee-based corporation Quorum Health Care. One thing union members lobbied for was community ownership of the hospital, and after being sold to Halsen Healthcare in 2019, resulting in bankruptcy being declared in 2021, a bill by state Sen. John Laird led to the formation of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, returning the hospital back to local control for the first time in more than 20 years.
Another major development since the 2018 strike was the passage of Measure N, a $116 million general obligation bond which, among other things, allowed the hospital to purchase the property it operated on, which was previously owned by Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust. This allowed the hospital to save $3 million a year in annual rent payments.
Still, union members have argued that this change in ownership has done little to correct issues of previous owners.
“We worked hard to bring ownership of our hospital back to our community because we thought they would understand what it takes to keep enough workers here,” Tiongsan wrote. “But they’re squeezing us just as hard as our out-of-state corporate owners tried to. To make things worse, management is refusing to bargain with us in good faith, forcing us to strike.”
The strike vote applies to various job classes, including patient care partners, clinical laboratory specialists, pharmacy technicians, surgical technologists, patient transporters, radiology clerks, emergency room technicians, food service workers, laboratory technicians, environmental services aides and other frontline health care workers, per the news release.
“I have worked at this hospital for more than 30 years and given my heart and soul to caring for our community,” said surgical technologist Chris Gill in a statement. “All we want is to care for our patients and community. We won’t stop fighting for our rights, patients, and one high standard of care and working conditions.”
Lisa Nell, an executive assistant at Watsonville Community Hospital, said the hospital had not been notified about a potential strike but staff are continuing to work with the bargaining units.
“We are continuing to negotiate with our employees who are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and have another session scheduled with them later this week,” she wrote in an email. “We will continue to bargain with them in good faith.”