Workers Report Feeling Unsafe in Culture that Permits Racially Charged Comments, ‘Jokes’ and Behavior

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Black workers at Dignity Health’s Mercy General Hospital, joined by employees at other area health facilities, will protest at noon Thursday, July 23 to expose a culture in the facility that permits racist behavior and leaves workers feeling harassed and discriminated against. The protest will take place outside the hospital at 4001 J St. in Sacramento.

“After working long hours caring for patients during this pandemic, I can’t believe my co-workers and I have to experience racial aggression by our supervisors,” said Dominique Minto, a sterile processing technician who has worked at Mercy General for 23 years. “It’s bad enough  that they demand we take off our Black Lives Matter masks, but we also have to hear racially charged jokes and comments.”

The Mercy General workers will be joined by workers from Bruceville Terrace, Dignity Health Medical Foundation; Mark Twain Medical Center; Mercy Healthcare Sacramento; Mercy Hospital of Folsom; Mercy McMahon Terrace; Mercy San Juan Medical Center; Methodist Hospital of Sacramento; St. Joseph’s Behavioral Health Center; St. Joseph’s Medical Center; Woodland Clinic Medical Group; and Woodland Healthcare.

Workers have reported a series of incidents that have been relayed to management with no response or repercussion for those responsible, including:

• Racist “jokes,” including a manager telling a “joke” about God rescuing a drowning white man over a drowning Black man.
• Workers being told that because of a policy against employees wearing logos on their clothing, they have to take off masks with the words “Black Lives Matter” on them, even though supervisors and workers regularly wear masks with sports team and other logos without being told to remove them. On the same day as one of the incidents, management put out a statement praising workers for speaking out and taking a stand against racial injustice.
• A manager responsible for racist comments trying to intimidate employees by shooting a staple into his arm and then removing it in front of the workers.
• A white employee calling a Black employee a “monkey” and management taking no action.

“I ask Dignity Health: Do Black lives matter? Does my life matter?” Minto asked. “If it does, then why do I feel like I am in constant fear that if I stand up for racial justice it is only going be ignored, and I will be retaliated against or fired?”

WHAT: Dignity Health Mercy General Hospital workers protesting against racism at the facility, joined by workers from area health facilities. Workers will be available for interviews.

WHEN: Noon, Thursday, July 23.

WHERE: 4001 J St., Sacramento.

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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.