PALO ALTO, CA – A caravan of cars carrying patients with signs and chants will join Stanford Health workers at a protest with social distancing from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow, May 7, at the corner of El Camino Real and Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto. The workers and patients want to send a message to Stanford Health Care management that it’s shameful to punish frontline caregivers by cutting their pay after the workers have put their health on the line every day during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are sending a message to Stanford Health Care that what they are doing to us and our families is a betrayal that puts a bigger burden on workers already stretched to the limit,” said Amanda Arrambide, an OB Tech. “We have been putting our well-being and the health of our loved ones on the line to care for COVID-19 patients, and Stanford’s thanks is to cut our wages. It’s inexcusable.”

Despite the stress and anxiety workers already were feeling, Stanford Health Care abruptly announced last week that it will require employees to take 12 furlough days over a 10-week period, which amounts to a 24 percent pay cut during that time, euphemistically calling the move a “shared sacrifice.”

Many of the workers affected by the cut make between $55,000 and $65,000 a year, and the pay reduction will make it difficult for them to pay their rent, buy groceries and take care of their families.

WHAT: Social distancing protest by Stanford Health Care workers with workers carrying signs and chanting about the cuts and a caravan of patients in cars with signs and chanting

WHEN: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, May 7, 2020

WHERE: Corner of El Camino and Sand Hill in Palo Alto

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SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is one of the largest unions of hospital workers in the United States, with 97,000 members. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.