On International Workers’ Day, UC Davis Health employees went on strike
By IHA RASTOGI — science@theaggie.org
May 1 is marked every year by International Workers’ Day, a day honoring the shared commitment and labor of working individuals. At UC Davis Health, this day signified an opportunity for healthcare workers and researchers to continue their unfair labor practice strike against the University of California.
Current UC Davis Health employees attest to an understaffed work environment resulting from a unilateral hiring freeze. The University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), a labor union that represents over 20,000 workers across the UC system, cites “imposition of a systemwide hiring freeze” as a major reason for the strike. The hiring freeze “would further undermine patient care, research, and education across the state,” according to the UPTE website.
Sonya Mogilner, a licensed social worker at the UC Davis Medical Center, was present at the May 1 strike.
“For years, social workers have seen firsthand how short-staffing has hurt the quality of patient care we’re able to provide,” Mogilner said. “I have been with UC for about six years, and none of the social work teams at the hospital have been fully staffed for more than a month or so.”
Understaffing has led to employees having to cover for each other.
“When we have coworkers out and open positions we have to cover for one another, leading to the burnout of staff we have left,” Mogilner said. “Usually my caseload is about 30 to 40 patients, but I’ve had to cover more than 100 or 120 when we are really short.”
We’ve heard concerns about the impacts of this freeze from our workers, other workers, and even management,” Amy Fletcher, UPTE’s treasurer and UC Davis researcher, said. “UC imposing a hiring freeze while giving the new president a 13% raise and continuing with billions in building projects highlights that addressing the crisis of short-staffing is not the priority.”
Mogilner asserts that with overloaded caseloads, patients aren’t receiving an adequate level of care before being discharged, leading to more re-admissions over time. In order to do critical work, both Mogilner and Fletcher agree that they need to be staffed more appropriately.
“Proposals in line with what our sister unions, AFSCME and CNA, already have and that would meaningfully address the staffing crisis. This, along with a halt to the unfair labor practices, would represent meaningful engagement,” Fletcher said.
Mogilner commented on the goals of these unions for the future.
“We are reasonable people who want to settle this fight,” Mogilner said. “We need the UC to stop violating the law and get serious about their proposals at the bargaining table.”
Written by: Iha Rastogi – science@theaggie.org
