FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 3, 2024

OAKLAND, Calif. — Healthcare workers at dozens of DaVita, Fresenius, Satellite, and U.S. Renal dialysis clinics in California have delivered 10-day strike notices to their employers in order to address unfair labor practices over companies’ illegal union-busting tactics. They want their employers to stop violating the rights of workers and to stop retaliating against caregivers who are trying to improve patient care and their working conditions.

The six-day unfair labor practice strikes involve nearly 900 workers and are scheduled to take place October 14-19 at 37 DaVita, Fresenius, Satellite, and U.S. Renal dialysis clinics across California.

“Frontline healthcare workers are being intimidated and threatened for trying to improve conditions in our dialysis clinics,” said Jennifer Piniones, a registered nurse at DaVita Valley Dialysis in Van Nuys. “Striking isn’t something we take lightly, but after years of unsafe staffing, unfair labor practices, and anti-union actions by management, we’re left with no other choice. Our patients rely on us for safe, quality care, and we’ve repeatedly raised issues with management. Instead of addressing our concerns, they’ve responded by violating our rights.”

Dialysis caregivers are calling for executives at DaVita, Fresenius, Satellite Healthcare, and U.S. Renal Care to work with them over solutions to chronic staffing shortages, and their demands for fair wages, and to stop employing union-busting tactics in response to workers exercising their right to form their unions. They say this action is necessary to stop unfair labor practices and secure safer conditions for both workers and patients. The workers also want their employers to stop retaliating against caregivers who advocate for their rights and better patient care.

“We’ve been trying to bring attention to these problems for years, but management continues to ignore us. We want Fresenius to stop violating the law and retaliating against caregivers who advocate for their rights and better patient care,” said Manny Gonzalez, a patient care technician preceptor at Fresenius. “We hope we finally get them to listen because not only are we unified at my clinic, but we’re unified with dialysis workers across the industry in our state.”

The two largest dialysis corporations spend significant amounts of money on anti-union efforts while reporting substantial profits. In 2023, DaVita reported $957 million in profits and paid its CEO $6.7 million in compensation. From 2017 to 2020, DaVita spent nearly $7 million on union-busting consultants. Similarly, at just one Fresenius dialysis clinic in the San Diego region, management spent over $650,000 in 2023 to oppose unionization efforts by healthcare workers.

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) represents hundreds of dialysis caregivers at DaVita, Fresenius, Satellite Healthcare and U.S. Renal in various job classes, including registered nurses, patient care technicians, licensed vocational nurses, certified clinical hemodialysis technicians, dietitians, social workers, clinical administrative coordinators, and receptionists.

Media Contact: [email protected].  

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SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a healthcare justice union of more than 100,000 healthcare workers, patients and healthcare activists united to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality care for all Californians, provided by valued and respected healthcare workers. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.