AFSCME workers authorize strike at five UC medical centers

By Chris Rauber
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

AFSCME Local 3299, which represents nearly 13,000 technical workers at five University of California medical centers statewide, says its members last week overwhelmingly authorized a strike.

More than 97 percent of workers who voted approved a strike at UC medical centers including UCSF Medical Center, UC Davis Medical Center and other UC hospitals at UC Irvine, UCLA and UC San Diego, as well as at student health centers at all 10 University of California campuses, the union said.

But union spokesman Todd Stenhouse wouldn’t say how many members voted in the strike-authorization vote, except to say it was “thousands and thousands” of workers.

The actual dates and duration of a strike “have yet to be finalized,” the union said, but it now has the legal right to call for one.

AFSCME said it has committed itself to patient protection measures, however, such as giving a 10-day notice before a labor action.

The local represents respiratory therapists, nursing aides, MRI techs, licensed vocational nurses, surgical technicians, pharmacy technicians, security guards, hospitality workers, hospital assistants and others. All told, the broader AFSCME union represents 22,000 workers at the UC system’s campuses and med centers.

The vote to authorize a strike took place over three days last week.

“It was UC that decided to put profits before patient care and it is UC that has the power to stop this strike,” AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger said in the union’s May 7 statement.

The strike vote followed 10 months of negotiations before and after expiration of a prior contract last Sept. 30. The union announced its strike vote last month.

UC officials have called AFSCME’s strike threats an attempt to “obscure the real issues” UC is facing, namely pension reform.

In Northern California, UCSF Medical Center, led by longtime CEO Mark Laret, and UC Davis Medical Center could be affected.

[Source]: San Francisco Business Times