Over 4,000 CWA Healthcare Workers Prepare to Strike

Members of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA) Local 9119 working for the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) are voting on whether to strike in response to unfair labor practice charges (ULP) filed against the university. Members hold positions at the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses, as well as other UCSF worksites across the city, including San Francisco General Hospital.

The decision comes after UPTE-CWA filed a ULP charge against the University of California for failing to provide critical information on systemwide vacancies, despite being legally obligated to do so. UPTE-CWA members assert that this lack of transparency exacerbates the staffing crisis across the system, leaving workers to deal with the severe consequences, including worsening emergency room wait times.

"As a UCSF worker, I’ve seen firsthand how the growing staffing crisis hurts our patients,” said Matt Stephen, a UCSF Physician Assistant and UPTE-CWA member. "Every day, my colleagues and patients feel the impacts of longer wait times and poorer quality of care. The UC continues to take no action to address the staffing crisis but has been quick to implement higher healthcare costs for workers.

Among the workers preparing to strike are physician assistants, optometrists, pharmacists, case managers, rehabilitation specialists, mental health clinicians, clinical lab scientists, staff research associates, IT workers, and more. They support UC students, provide world-class patient care in UC hospitals and medical centers, and work on pressing scientific issues including climate change, food sustainability, virology, genomics, and beyond. UPTE-CWA will announce the results of the strike vote on October 31.

UPTE-CWA Local 9119 represents over 19,000 healthcare, research, and technical workers across the University of California system.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.