FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 18, 2024
SAN DIEGO — Healthcare workers across Sharp Metropolitan Campus have voted overwhelmingly to improve patient care and jobs by joining SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), a union of more than 100,000 healthcare workers across California.
“Now that we’re union, we’ll be able to stand up and speak up for our patients and this community,” added Cheryl Okuboye, a Licensed Psychiatric Technician at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital. “With this victory, we’ll have the strength to win safer staffing, better patient care, and good jobs across Sharp.”
The election took place on July 16-18, covering over 2,000 frontline workers at Sharp Memorial Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns, Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, Sharp Allison deRose Rehabilitation Center, and James S. Brown Pavilion. These workers will now join contract bargaining with over 2,700 workers at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and Sharp HospiceCare, who also recently voted to join SEIU-UHW.
“San Diego has become the epicenter of unionization in the state, even the country,” said Arnold Aradanas, a Respiratory Care Practitioner at Sharp Memorial Hospital. “It makes perfect sense — San Diego is the most expensive city in the nation. Many healthcare workers can’t afford to live in this community and are struggling to provide for our families because our wages keep falling further and further behind.”
For years, healthcare workers throughout Sharp HealthCare have struggled with staffing shortages, safety concerns, and wages far below market for this region — even though these caregivers risked their lives to serve the community throughout the pandemic.
The victory was overwhelming: 70 percent of the workers voting supported joining SEIU-UHW.
The vote applies to a variety of job classes, including Certified Nursing Assistants, Respiratory Care Practitioners, Pharmacy Technicians, Patient Transporters, Mental Health Workers, Licensed Psychiatric Technicians, Environmental Service Workers, Healthcare Partners, Licensed Vocational Nurses, MRI Technologists, Ultrasound Technicians, Rehabilitation Aides, Anesthesia Technicians, Radiologic Technologists, Surgical Technologists, Sterile Processing Technicians, Lab Technicians, Nursing Unit Clerks, Supply Distribution Technicians, and numerous other frontline healthcare workers.
This election at Sharp Metropolitan Campus is part of a massive wave of unionization throughout the San Diego area. In addition to the nearly 5,000 workers across Sharp HealthCare who have voted to join SEIU-UHW, 550 Planned Parenthood workers and nearly 300 dialysis workers in the region have done so recently.
“I have friends who work at other healthcare facilities in this area, and they’ve gotten so excited seeing us unionize Sharp,” said Alicia Bradley, an Anesthesia Technician at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital. “They tell me, ‘We’re next!’”
SEIU-UHW members at Sharp HealthCare are currently in contract bargaining with management. Union members are hopeful that Sharp will begin to take negotiations more seriously with the addition of these 2,000 Sharp Metropolitan Campus workers.
“It’s become clear that Sharp management has been delaying our contract negotiations so they could tell the workers at Metropolitan that they won’t win a contract if they unionize,” said Jonilyn Vargas, a Phlebotomist at Sharp Grossmont Hospital. “Now it’s time for management to stop stalling. With this win, we’re nearly 5,000 union members strong across Sharp. We’re ready to take action together to win a contract that improves patient care and jobs at all our facilities.”
Sharp Healthcare made net income of over $1.17 billion in 2020-2021, according to its own financial disclosures. Sharp has received $273 million in federal, taxpayer-funded COVID-19 funds, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Sharp HealthCare’s CEO made $2.4 million in compensation in 2022.
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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.