Tensions mounted at St. Francis Medical Center on Friday, Dec. 22 when Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Long Beach, and others were denied access to the Lynwood hospital, which is owned and operated by Prime Healthcare.
Barragan said she went there hoping to see seven striking workers who were fired Wednesday reinstated to their jobs. The terminations included the entire five-member bargaining team with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West.
The union is representing 1,800 healthcare employees who are in the middle of a seven-day strike at four Prime hospitals.
Workers have openly complained that inadequate staffing has negatively affected patient care at St. Francis, Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center and Encino Hospital Medical Center.
“I had a meeting on Wednesday with Myra Castaneda, an SEIU negotiator, and after we hung up she called back and said she’d been fired,” Barragan said. “I went to St. Francis today, wanting to reach out to the CEO. It’s not a good practice to fire the bargaining team from your union.”
But Barragan said she and two aides, plus Lynwood Councilman Juan Munoz-Guevara and an SEIU representative were prevented from entering the hospital.
“Several security guards showed up and would not let us enter,” Barragan said. “I identified myself, but they formed a line to block us. I’ve never been prevented from entering a hospital before. It was pretty outrageous.”
In a statement issued late Friday, St. Francis spokeswoman Linda Woo said CEO Clay Farell was not at the hospital when Barragan and the others arrived. But, she said, he would be happy to meet with them.
Castaneda, an ultrasound tech at St. Francis, was among the seven who were first suspended and then fired on Wednesday.
She alleges the terminations were management’s retaliation for a Nov. 30 rally employees held at Prime’s Ontario headquarters.
Workers picketed the facility that day and also delivered letters of support from more than 10 elected officials, including Janice Hahn, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
“An employee let us into the building, and we were told to wait in the lobby,” Castaneda said. “They said someone would be out to meet us. Then five security guards came out and told us we had to leave.”
Castaneda said workers were told they’d been trespassing.
“This was clearly a form of intimidation and retaliation,” the 43-year-old Southgate resident said.
Munoz-Guevara and Hahn met Farell on Wednesday and were told the hospital would do a “fair investigation” into the suspensions. The terminations were announced shortly afterward.
“How do you do a fair investigation in a couple hours?” Munoz-Guevara asked.
Woo said some striking workers who picketed Prime’s Ontario headquarters on Nov. 30 “intentionally engaged in conduct that violated St Francis’ standards of conduct.”
She didn’t elaborate on what the violations were, but said they “necessitated corrective action by the hospital.”
Barragan said she will demand a meeting with Farell. She plans to ask that the seven workers be reinstated, and is urging St. Francis to bargain in good faith.
“No one came in with signs today, and we were not trying to be disruptive,” she said. “That’s why this was so shocking.”
