Thousands of UC San Francisco Medical Center workers took to the strike lines this past Friday, disrupting the flow of one of the city's most essential institutions. The striking workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, are pushing back against a series of layoffs they view as an affront to both patients and employees. According to the SF Examiner, layoffs affect over 130 patient-care roles at UCSF and UC San Diego. The union says that layoffs leave "patients hanging."
Liz Perlman, the union's executive director representing roughly 40,000 UC workers statewide, expressed dismay at these developments, asserting, per the SF Examiner, "It leaves patients hanging, it leaves our folks’ families hanging." The recent layoffs came on the heels of another blow when UCSF laid off 200 additional UPTE employees a month ago, intensifying the strife between the university and its workforce. Todd Stenhouse, a spokesperson for AFSCME, told the SFGATE, that this round of layoffs especially targeted frontline workers like "nursing assistants, lab and surgical technicians, vocational nurses, and radiological technicians." According to Stenhouse, these cuts are evidence of priorities "divorced from reality."
The union has also raised concerns about UCSF's approach to managing its workforce during expansion. AFSCME has filed charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board alleging the recent firings were illegal, a claim grounded in the absence of notice or bargaining. Stenhouse critiqued the logic behind these layoffs and UCSF's fiscal strategies to the SF Examiner, questioning the underlying rationale given UCSF Health's significant revenue. Moreover, workers like Geraldine Wong and Nickol Marta, who saw their supervisor roles eliminated, spoke out about the lack of strategy in selecting who gets laid off and the impact on patient care and staff morale.
