FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 20, 2024
CALIFORNIA – Frontline healthcare workers from CommonSpirit will picket September 24-26 at four Dignity Health hospitals across California in response to the outsourcing of critical jobs, layoffs, and their impact on patient care. Caregivers say CommonSpirit executives are refusing to listen to stop these cuts and work with them to fix the staffing crisis that is hurting patients, workers, and the community.
CommonSpirit executives have been reducing staff through layoffs and consolidating positions to outside facilities. Earlier this year, healthcare workers picketed at Dignity Health – St. John’s Medical Center in Oxnard to protest plans by hospital management to outsource monitor technician jobs from Southern California to Arizona. CommonSpirit has also announced layoffs at multiple Dignity Health facilities, including Sacramento, Bakersfield, Northridge, and San Bernardino. Too many CommonSpirit patients are already affected by delays in care at Dignity Health hospitals due to the ongoing staffing crisis which will only worsen with these cuts.
“CommonSpirit is trying to cut corners at the expense of workers and patient safety,” said Gabe Ruiz, a Department Aide at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. “Outsourcing jobs and cutting staff compromises our ability to provide the level of care that our patients deserve. CommonSpirit executives must invest in their Dignity Health workforce instead of making more cuts to care.”
SEIU-UHW represents approximately 15,000 CommonSpirit workers statewide. Caregivers joining the protests represent a variety of job classes, including respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, laboratory assistants, social workers, environmental services, and many other frontline staff.
CommonSpirit Healthcare workers will be available during the picket at the following times and locations:
September 24
Dignity Health – Mercy Hospital Southwest
400 Old River Rd, Bakersfield, CA 93311
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
September 25
Dignity Health – Northridge Hospital Medical Center
18300 Roscoe Blvd, Northridge, CA 91325
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Dignity Health – Community Hospital of San Bernardino
1805 Medical Center Dr, San Bernardino, CA 92411
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
September 26
Mercy General Hospital
4001 J St., Sacramento, CA 95819
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Media Contact: [email protected].
###
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.