By Paul Sisson
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO — Service and technical workers will hold a one-day strike at UC San Diego Health on Tuesday, alleging that recently announced layoffs violate state law that requires such workforce reductions to be negotiated rather than enacted unilaterally.
The work stoppage is set to begin at 12 a.m. and continue through midnight, with picketing at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. In a statement, the university health system says that it has “detailed plans in place to minimize patient impact and maintain access to hospitals and clinics,” with all of its facilities “expected to remain open and operational.”
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The university did not provide additional logistical information, such as how many replacement workers are being brought in to cover for striking members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, nor did UCSD Health respond when asked whether it has rescheduled Tuesday appointments due to the strike.
The university rebuffed any assertions that it did not bargain in good faith.
“UC San Diego Health has earnestly tried to engage AFSCME in meaningful dialogue both about salary negotiations and the reduction in positions,” a statement sent Monday evening said. “UC San Diego Health did notify AFSCME of the pending layoffs before they occurred. UC San Diego Health believes it has adhered to and met all contractual and legal obligations of the collective bargaining agreement.”
In late July, UCSD Health announced that it would lay off up to 230 workers, and AFSCME 3299 said in an email Monday that 103 of the total were its members. Eliminated positions include 31 hospital nursing assistants, 14 senior nurse’s aides and 10 hospital lab technicians.
The union local represents about 7,000 workers at UCSD Health spread across service and patient technical care bargaining units. While this strike has been called by the technical group, service workers — working in roles from dining services to mail rooms — are striking in solidarity.
Health system leadership cited uncertain revenues and increased costs as the main reasons why it laid off workers. However, the union is pushing back against those assertions, especially pointing out multiple moves to purchase or lend financial assistance to other facilities outside the UC system. In San Diego County , UCSD Health recently loaned Palomar Health $20 million to help the organization survive ongoing budget problems, and an additional $10 million loan is up for consideration by Palomar’s board Tuesday afternoon.
Todd Stenhouse, an AFSCME spokesperson, said that recent financial decisions do not convince his members that there is not enough money to make better offers to those in the trenches.
“Are new hospitals, the ones that they’re actively buying right now, are they free? Because we’re finding money there, right?” Stenhouse said. “Was the half-million-dollar a year raise given to the chancellor of UCSD, did that just fall out of the sky?” Stenhouse said.
He said that workers continue to struggle with increased costs of everything from food to rent.
“Our members are still making less in real wages than they were in 2017, but the layoffs are a step beyond, given that UCSD continues to expand,” Stenhouse said.
The union and the university have been in contract negotiations for the past 16 months with UC announcing on June 1 that it had given about 37,000 workers 5% raises, part of its “last, best and final offer” after it considered ongoing bargaining to be at an impasse.
AFSCME also plans to stage a similar strike at UC San Francisco on Friday.
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