Media Advisory For:

January 13, 2022

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Citing massive understaffing, difficult working conditions, and a series of unfair labor practices, hundreds of healthcare workers are expected to walk out of Doctors Hospital of Riverside at 6 a.m. on Thursday, January 13. The strike, which was approved with a 97% yes vote from the workers, will conclude after 24 hours.

“Even before COVID, we were massively understaffed. Now, it’s just ridiculous,” said John Richardson, a pathology assistant at Doctors Hospital of Riverside. “We’ve got patients waiting seven or eight hours just to get into a room because there isn’t anybody to transport them there. We’ve got COVID rooms that aren’t getting cleaned because there aren’t enough housekeeping staff.”

The hospital, which was bought by AHMC Healthcare in 2019, has undergone a series of layoffs since the acquisition and struggles with high worker turnover.

“Lots of workers here are making minimum wage or close to it, even in this pandemic,” said Stefanie Cumpton, a monitor technician at the hospital. “I stay because my kids were born here and I live in the community, but a lot of people come here and then move on after three to six months. Our patients and community deserve better. AHMC needs to invest more into the workers who have kept the community alive, and ensure that the hospital has proper staffing so that we can withstand this pandemic together.”

Approximately 330 Doctors Hospital employees are members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West.

WHAT:         Healthcare workers wearing their uniforms will distribute leaflets to passersby, hold signs and chant in protest of Doctors Hospital’s massive understaffing, unsustainable turnover, sub-standard wages, and unfair labor practices.

WHEN:          6 am, Thursday, January 13

WHERE:       Doctors Hospital of Riverside: 3865 Jackson Street, Riverside, CA 92503

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SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is one of the largest unions of hospital workers in the western United States with more than 100,000 members. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.