State Court Upholds University of California Healthcare Workers Strike [Audio link]

By Max Pringle

A state court in Sacramento has ruled that 22,000 unionized University of California health care workers can strike as planned Wednesday. The UC sought to block the strike for safety reasons.

(Sacramento, CA)
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 says the court accepted a union plan to exclude dozens of critical technical staff from taking part in the strike.

Local 3299 officials say the strike is a protest against UC intimidation of workers who advocate safer staffing levels.

“UC hospitals are getting dinged with safety fines from the state department of public health, deficiency reports from the center of Medicaid and Medicare services,” says Todd Stenhouse with Local 3299. “This is not our opinion. This is a safety problem.”

UC officials say their hospitals have one of the best safety reputations in the country. The UC also says it expects to be cleared of the union’s harassment charges when the state Public Employee Relations Board hears the union’s case in March.

Meanwhile, unionized UC graduate instructors with the United Auto Workers say they will hold a one-day sympathy strike.

The UC has reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing 12-thousand registered nurses affiliated with the California Nurses Association.

[Source]: Capital Public Radio – Audio link