Bay Area hospice workers to strike Tuesday, July 29 as caseloads spike and out-of-state chain prepares to take over the longstanding community-based service
The one-day strike will begin at 6 a.m. in Pleasant Hill and striking nurses, social workers, chaplains and bereavement counselors will be available for interviews as early as 5:40 a.m.
Two years after becoming among the first Northern California hospice workers to form a union, caregivers at one of the Bay Area’s oldest hospice providers are going on a one-day strike Tuesday, July 29. Workers at Hospice East Bay are fed up with a severe understaffing of nurses and frustrated that management is bargaining in bad faith and refusing to enshrine existing patient care protocols into a contract before the hospice turns over control to an out-of-state chain.
“I’m supposed to have 10 patients, but I have 15 on my caseload because we’ve lost a lot of qualified nurses,” said Jill Tobin, a nurse at Hospice East Bay. “We’re in people’s homes witnessing their suffering, but we don’t have enough time to provide the care that our patients need.”
WHO/WHAT: Dozens of hospice workers picketing outside Hospice East Bay headquarters alongside elected leaders and community supporters.
WHEN/WHERE: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday, July 29, Hospice East Bay, 3470 Buskirk Ave. Pleasant Hill. Workers will be available starting at 5:40 a.m. for interviews.
The nearly 80 nurses, social workers, chaplains and bereavement counselors at Hospice East Bay made statewide headlines in 2023 when they joined the National Union of Healthcare Workers. They are still seeking their first contract after about 18 months of negotiations. Their organizing drive was part of a flurry of union activity among hospice workers, as the industry began major consolidations amid the entry of for-profit operators that have transformed hospice care from a community-based service to a money-making venture.
Since 2022, more than 400 hospice workers in Northern California have joined NUHW. Earlier this month, NUHW members at two Providence hospices in Sonoma County held one of the first ever strikes by local hospice workers, seeking a contract before Providence turned over operations to a for-profit, private equity-owned company.
The situation is similar at Hospice East Bay, which was founded in 1977 and is the second-largest hospice provider serving Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties. Although the hospice still gets strong marks in federal patient care surveys, it has started cutting back services, eliminating its music therapy program in December, as it prepares to turn over operations to Chapters Health System, a national hospice chain based in Florida.
Hospice East Bay’s affiliation agreement with Chapters is currently being reviewed by the California Attorney General’s Office.
Although Chapters is not a for-profit operator, it touts a reputation for helping its member hospices to “maximize administrative resources and minimize expenses,” and workers at a Virginia hospice recently taken over by Chapters have reported ensuing layoffs and increased caseloads.
With the Chapters takeover expected soon, workers are seeking a contract that would enshrine existing patient care safeguards as well as employee benefits, but Hospice East Bay management has taken a hard line. In negotiations, Hospice East Bay has:
- Refused to enshrine the current caregiver-to-patient ratios in the contract, allowing it or the hospice’s future owner to significantly cut staffing.
- Insisted on the right to unilaterally increase costs to employees and/or cut benefits at any time during the term of the agreement.
- Offered only a 0.5 percent raise for the next year.
“All we want is to be able to keep our benefits and our patient care protections in place, and all they want is to be able to make them worse,” said Dawn Torre, a bereavement counselor at the hospice. “We expected management to work with us to make things better for patients, but they’ve done everything possible to avoid reaching an agreement.”
Workers have filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against Hospice East Bay, including charges for regressive bargaining and for withholding merit raises. Hospice management has also refused to bargain in the evenings when workers can sit across from them at the table without needing to care for any patients.
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including more than 400 hospice workers.
