Fed up with Providence’s bad-faith contract bargaining, NUHW members at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro held their first picket on August 21, demanding that Providence pay them on par with its other unionized hospitals.
For three hours, respiratory therapists, housekeepers, nursing assistants, occupational therapists, and medical technicians streamed out of the hospital and grabbed picket signs to join in the action.
“We deserve better,” said Certified Nursing Assistant Judith Hernandez. “We must continue to stand in solidarity for the sake of our livelihood which sustains us.”
Workers at the 231-bed hospital formed a union last year after NUHW members at a Providence hospital in Tarzana won a contract that increased wages by an average of 40 percent over four years.
Workers at San Pedro currently make about 24 percent less than their counterparts at unionized Providence hospitals, which has resulted in rapid turnover and severe understaffing.
However, the healthcare giant has so far refused to offer the workers comparable salaries and recently lowered its wage offer after it became clear that implementation of California’s healthcare worker minimum wage law would be delayed.
Community leaders are also outraged by Providence’s negotiation tactics. Joining workers on the picket line were members of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
NBC, Telemundo, and La Opinión covered the action. NUHW members said the large turnout of workers, community members, and the press clearly had an impact.
“I have never gotten so many memorandums from the higher-ups in such a short amount of time in my 26 years of service,” Hernandez said. “I’m positive they’re starting to understand we aren’t playing games when it comes to our wage proposal, our health benefits, and our 401K.”
Providence is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, with 51 hospitals and more than 900 clinics, including many hospitals in Southern California. It has $8.4 billion in unrestricted cash and investments. Over the past year, it has come under fire for aggressively trying to collect payments from patients who should have qualified for charity care.
