FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 13, 2023

OAKLAND,  Calif. – Dialysis caregivers at Fresenius and Satellite Healthcare are the latest round of healthcare workers to authorize a strike as corporate management refuses to bargain in good faith to fix unsafe working and patient care conditions caused by the short-staffing crisis in the state’s dialysis system.

Dialysis is a life-sustaining treatment for more than 65,000 Californians with kidney failure and workers who provide regular weekly treatments say management is putting staff and patients at risk to increase profits, while violating their rights.

“We spend more time with our patients and coworkers than our own families, and they know  we are chronically understaffed and underpaid,” said Brittany Sanchez, a dialysis caregiver at Fresenius University in Orange County. “Fresenius is trying to keep us silent because they’re afraid of us standing together, and they know that our patients are beside us in this fight.”

In response to caregivers’ attempts to improve safety, management from both corporations has violated United States labor law by threatening and intimidating caregivers, firing workers for leading organizing efforts and speaking out to improve patient care, making unilateral changes to working conditions without negotiating, and failing to bargain in good faith in contract negotiations.

The strike would take place as early as the end of September across 22 Fresenius and Satellite locations statewide if progress is not made in negotiations between management and workers to solve the crisis. Dialysis caregivers are joined by nearly 100,000 other healthcare workers also voting to authorize strikes at Kaiser Permanente, Prime Healthcare and other healthcare corporations this fall.

“People’s lives are being put at risk and we’re not going to keep silent about that. When we tell management that we have too many patients for safe care, their response is to violate our rights instead of working together with us to fix the problems in dialysis,” said Eugene Dela Pena, dialysis caregiver at Satellite Healthcare in San Francisco. “We don’t want to do this but management gives us no choice by refusing to bargain with us in good faith.”

Both Fresenius and Satellite are obligated to come up with a plan for patient care during the strike, including redirecting patients to other clinics and/or utilizing management or temporary staff to care for them.

The strike authorization vote applies to more than 650 dialysis caregivers at Fresenius and Satellite Healthcare clinics and inside hospitals 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:
Maria Leal
[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.