Health care workers from Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton joined thousands of others across California in a mass picketing movement on Wednesday, July 19.
“Across California and the nation, health care workers have been making their voices heard at unprecedented levels,” Maria Leal told New Times.
The United Healthcare Workers West communications specialist said the rally is just one of multiple statewide efforts being made by health care workers to obtain better working conditions, better pay, and more staff assistance.
“We want Tenet management to work with us to ensure more staffing and improve pay,” Leal said. “That way health care workers stay at our hospitals, and new workers want to come here.”
Kicking off on July 11 at another Tenet Healthcare facility, Sierra Vista Reginal Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, the rallies consist of health care workers from all experience levels pushing for renewed talks with Tenet management.
“We want to go back to the bargaining table,” Leal said. “We’re counting on management to work with us for our patients, our community, and our fellow health care workers.”
One of the picketers at a hospital in Turlock said that the workers feel they have done more than enough—citing the efforts of the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic as reason enough to demand some of the treatment they desire.
“We put our lives at risk during the pandemic and were called ‘heroes,'” Respiratory Therapist Bridgete Lamere said in a statement. “We are calling on our employers to increase their investments in workers.”
In addition to the effects of the pandemic, Leal said workers have been dropping out of the industry at an alarming rate.
“Health care workers are burned out and leaving the industry,” she said. “We want Tenet to provide pay that keeps up with inflation and the cost of living so we can continue to do our job.”
Leal said United Healthcare Workers West understands that residents might have concerns about the picketing efforts taking away from actual care being provided to those in immediate need, but that ultimately those workers need to be supported by their higher-ups in order to provide the best care possible.
“Caregivers are committed to working with their employer to continue providing the best patient care possible,” she said. “But to do that we have to work together to ensure workers have the support they need to accomplish that.”
The easiest way to do that according to Leal is to hire more staff. In doing so, many workers expect that the intense workdays and stressful overtime sessions would be less frequent.
“We need more staff,” she said. “We want management to work with us in our hospitals to ensure more staffing.”
In the end, Leal hopes that this picketing movement will lead to the outcome the health care workers desire and spark a continued effort across the United States to ensure that those who care for residents in their most dire moments receive proper compensation and care in return.
“Too many health care workers are leaving because they are burned out and need support,” she said. Δ
This article appears in Jul 20-30, 2023.
