Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technology employees vote for strike approval, citing what they described as a systematic, continuing staffing shortage that erodes patient care and hurts research work I did.
The approval of the strike occurs amid tensions between university and university professionals and technical employees.
Members include nurse case managers, mental health counselors, optometrists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, clinical researchers, IT analysts, and animal health technicians.
The union said it plans to strike for a three-day period starting February 26th.
A strike can affect operations in hospitals and clinics. UC also has research on cancer, food safety, virology, climate change and other issues. Some of the members are UC Davis Lab lab technicians who are important in their efforts to track and prevent avian flu as California spreads to herds of cattle.
The union known as UPTE said it asked for a strike vote because the university failed to negotiate in good faith in negotiations that began last June. UC accused some UC San Francisco employees who took part in a two-day work stop in November of illegally imposing “Draconian” restrictions on where workers can retaliate with pickets. It's there.
Union officials said the university had inappropriately raised healthcare costs and refused to be meaningfully involved in staffing vacancy and hiring and promotion issues.
“We hope this will send a message to UC about members who are tired of these unfair labor practices,” President Dan Russell said in a statement. “I hope this will change the behavior of UC.”
Members voted overwhelmingly in favor of confirming the strike – 98% voted in favor – the federal statement said Friday. The union refused to provide a total number of votes for the vote, but said at least 9,000 votes were submitted in the first week.
For some of them, he said the university denied the crisis of staffing, providing robust wages and benefits, and accusing them of leaving the negotiation table early.
“It's disappointing that UPTE continues to talk about claiming UC is being claimed a strike when it didn't show up at its last scheduled negotiation session. Heather Hansen said in an email. .
Hansen said UC is “ready and still ready to settle these contracts.”
In the case of strikes, Hansen said, “The University (system) is ready to make every effort to ensure the critical operation of the university system, including patient care, and UC patients, students and faculty at an outstanding level. It will continue, and our staff are looking forward to it.”
On Tuesday, the UPTE-CWA Local 9119 member phone bank in Westwood's office will call workers about casting votes on strike approval voting. (Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
The university proposed an increase in full wages of 5% from July 1, with 3% pay increases in the second and third years of contract. He also offered to raise all low-paid employees to pay at least $25 an hour by July 1st.
The union would leave future representative workers suffering from inflationary costs, claiming that the university is lower than the wages it agreed to with other employees, such as nurses.
Several workers in the interview cited high workload and burnout as reasons for vote approval.
Amelia Cutten, 40, behavioural health counselor at UC Santa Cruz, said she and other counselors and psychologists at Cowell Student Health Center struggled to keep up with the big caseload of around 12 counselors and psychologists. He said he was there.
“It's really hard for us to work and try to serve students who are coming to us at a really important time,” Katten said. “I want the best care of my students.”
Maryam Azizadah, assistant clinical research coordinator at UCLA, who works with cancer patients, said her work requires high levels of attention and expertise to understand the cumbersome protocols of various clinical trials. I did. She explains her juggling requests and rushes to order tissue samples to determine the eligibility of approximately 70 patients at a time.
“I felt overwhelmed by the email and the barrage of requests and responsibilities. I couldn't do it all,” Azizada said. “I was working with two people and I was really feeling guilty and I realized I was missing out on these mistakes and emails.”
