Los Angeles,  Calif. – Healthcare workers across four Prime Healthcare facilities in Southern California are the latest round of workers to authorize an unfair labor practice strike as corporate management threatens and intimidates workers, and refuses to bargain in good faith to fix unsafe working and patient care conditions caused by the short-staffing crisis.

The unfair labor practice strike will run from October 9-13 at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, and Encino Hospital Medical Center, if progress is not made in negotiations between Prime executives and frontline healthcare workers.

“We are calling on Prime Healthcare to stop their unfair labor practices, bargain in good faith, and listen to the frontline healthcare workers that this community depends on,” said Bernie Espinoza, an Ultrasound Tech at Prime Garden Grove Hospital. “Staffing has been so critically low that many caregivers have left. The remaining workers are stretched thin and rushed. We’re forced to take on more patients with less staff, which leaves much less time for quality one-on-one patient care,”

Nearly 100,000 healthcare workers have voted to authorize strikes this fall at Prime Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Fresenius Medical Care, Satellite Healthcare, and other healthcare corporations.

In 2021, Prime Healthcare Services and the Prime Healthcare Foundation made more than $263 million in profits from its California facilities. Prime operates healthcare facilities in 14 states nationwide.

Approximately 1,800 Prime Healthcare employees are members of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West. They work in various jobs including licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, medical assistants, emergency room, radiology, and respiratory techs, and many other fields. Their contract expired in June this year.

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