“Same Job, Less Pay, No Way!”
Workers at Children’s Hospital Oakland will hold a 12 p.m. rally Tuesday, April 1 to protest UCSF’s “Integration Plan”
By folding Children’s Hospital Oakland into UCSF Health, the university would cut take home pay for its East Bay healthcare workers, forcing them to pay thousands more for their health and retirement benefits
OAKLAND — More than 1,300 healthcare workers at UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland are organizing a noontime rally on Tuesday, April 1 to protest the university’s planned integration of the hospital into UCSF Health — a move that would reduce take home pay for workers in the East Bay by an average of $7,000 per year.
“The university’s phony integration plan is nothing more than a scheme to leave us with less take home pay and leave our patients with fewer dedicated caregivers,” said Rosie Brooks, a telecommunications operator at the hospital. “UCSF has billions of dollars; it shouldn’t be taking money out of our pockets and the communities we serve.”
WHO/WHAT: Hundreds of healthcare workers, wearing red, chanting, marching and holding a rally with community allies.
WHERE/WHEN: Noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, outside UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, 747 52nd St., Oakland.
UCSF affiliated with Children’s Hospital Oakland in 2014, running it as a private non-profit entity separate from UCSF Health. However, earlier this year, UCSF informed workers of an integration plan that would take effect in July.
The plan is not a merger. It would not change anything pertaining to the hospital’s ownership structure, funding or license. The only tangible change would be to the employment status of its East Bay workers, allowing UCSF to significantly cut their take home pay and keep that money for itself.
Under the plan, UCSF would effectively terminate its workers at Children’s Hospital Oakland and its satellite clinics across the East Bay and rehire them as direct UCSF employees. That move would terminate their union contracts and make them members of UCSF unions, whose contracts require workers to pay thousands of dollars more for their health and retirement benefits.
“This isn’t a plan to improve care; it’s wage theft,” said Angelica Leiva, a child life specialist at Children’s Hospital Oakland. “UCSF is taking money from caregivers in the East Bay and keeping it for itself. We want to keep our union and keep our contract, and that should be our choice to make, not the University of California’s.”
In addition to slashing take home pay for workers, the integration plan would also allow UCSF to freely float workers between Children’s Hospital Oakland and the Mission Bay campus in San Francisco. While UCSF claims the move would give it added flexibility, workers are concerned that it would be a hardship to travel farther to work, leading to resignations that would ultimately leave Children’s Hospital Oakland with less available staff.
The rally is being organized by members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The union represents more than 1,300 workers at the hospital and satellite clinics including respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, clerical staff, housekeepers and medical technicians, as well as occupational, speech and mental health therapists. After holding the largest strike in the hospital’s history in 2023, the workers secured better pay as well as provisions that make it harder for UCSF to shift services from the East Bay to San Francisco.
At the urging of its members, the union is pursuing legal action to stop UCSF’s integration plan, which amounts to an illegal subcontracting of workers under their current contracts. Workers are also considering a strike, if UCSF moves forward with its integration plan.
“UCSF’s plan is bad for East Bay caregivers and kids,” said Cameron Lewis, a guest services ambassador at the hospital. “We’re going to reach out to everyone in our community about what’s at stake, and we’re going to stop it. Everyone should be able to choose their own union, and no worker should have their take home pay reduced so their employer can boost its profits.”
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawa’ii, including more than 1,300 workers at UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland and satellite clinics.
