Caregivers to picket Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital Wednesday, Oct. 29, as they seek to restore pension and health benefits eliminated via an invalidated bankruptcy filing
HOLLISTER, Calif. — Caregivers will picket Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, October 29 to inform community members about the challenges they face caring for patients two years after the public district hospital’s Board of Directors took away their pensions, eliminated their affordable healthcare plans and cut their vacation time as part of bankruptcy filing that a federal judge later overturned.
The nearly 400 workers who will walk picket lines during their breaks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. include nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and medical technicians, who are represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Their union contract expired in June, and they are seeking to restore the benefits the district eliminated in 2023 and secure fair wages so they can afford to provide for their families while also providing care at their local hospital.
“We love being able to care for our friends and neighbors, but we can’t stay silent when we see our hospital being mismanaged and our patients suffering the consequences,” said Admitting Representative Rosario Campos. “We lost a lot of good caregivers after management took away our benefits, and we can’t restore safe staffing for patient care without restoring what was taken away from caregivers.”
WHO/WHAT: Healthcare workers, including certified nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, engineers and medical techs wearing red, chanting and walking picket lines.
WHEN/WHERE: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, October 29 in front of Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, 911 Sunset Drive in Hollister
On May 23, 2023, the San Benito Health Care District Board filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but a federal bankruptcy judge later dismissed the filing, finding that the district’s financial forecast was flawed and under-reported the district’s resources by $15 million. Nevertheless, the district used the bankruptcy filing as pretense to unilaterally cut health and retirement benefits as well as vacation time from workers. Workers lost all future pension contributions and two weeks of vacation time. They were also forced into new health plans that cost an additional $1,500 per year in premium costs.
In the first year after the bankruptcy filing, full-time-equivalent positions at the hospital fell from 546.16 FTEs in 2023 to 504.66 FTEs. At the same time, more than one-third of NUHW-represented workers reported having to work through their lunch breaks at least once a week to meet the needs of their patients.
Although the hospital district reported a healthy $14 million net profit last year, its board of directors and CEO Mary Casillas are refusing to restore pensions, vacation time and affordable health benefits for workers.
The district is also proposing annual wage increases of just 2 percent, which would widen the gap between Hazel Hawkins and the nearest district hospital, Salinas Valley Health Medical Center, where workers are also represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Across 28 comparable job classifications, NUHW members at Hazel Hawkins earn an average starting wage of $38.42, compared to $50.73 at Salinas Valley Memorial Health—a difference of over 32 percent.
“We’ve stayed at Hazel because this is our local hospital, and we want to be able to provide the same level of care that everyone in our community counts on,” Respiratory Therapist Valerie Aguinaldo said. “We know the hospital has the resources to do right by its caregivers, so we have the staffing levels we need to provide the best possible care to our patients. The bottom line is that the district wasn’t honest about its finances and caregivers and patients have paid the price. Now it’s time to restore what should never have been taken away.”
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawai’i.
