Nurses, medical assistants, ER techs and others at four Prime Healthcare hospitals launched their second strike of the year Wednesday, Dec. 20, claiming severe understaffing and high turnover have undermined patient care.
The 1,800 workers represented by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West also say Prime management has tried to prevent them from participating in union activities. Their last bargaining session was Dec. 4 and another session has yet to scheduled.
“They recently suspended our whole bargaining team,” said Sonia Rodriguez, an ultrasound tech at St. Francis. “They claimed we trespassed because we went to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Ontario. But everything was amicable … there was no police involvement.”
Hospitals affected by the seven-day unfair labor practices strike include St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Centinela Medical Center in Inglewood, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center and Encino Hospital Medical Center.
The walkout will run through Friday this week, break for the Christmas holiday and resume Tuesday, Dec. 26 through the end of next week.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Prime Healthcare said its hospitals will remain open during the strike, staffed by temporary employees throughout nursing and non-nursing departments.
The goal, management said, is to reach an agreement “in the best interests of the hospital, its employees, and most importantly, those who we serve.”
Rodriguez said a lack of adequate staffing has compromised patient care at St. Francis.
“Patients have long wait times,” the 38-year-old Southgate resident said. “People will come to the ER in agony, but they don’t get care in a timely manner. They might have to wait four hours for a diagnosis.”
Rodriguez said the situation is equally stressful for employees.
“It’s disheartening,” she said. “We got into healthcare because we want to help people, but our hands are tied. Employee retention here is horrible. New employees come in and don’t even finish their training because they get jobs somewhere else with less stress and higher wages.”
Rodriguez, who earns $41 an hour, said ultrasound techs at other hospitals make nearly $50 an hour doing the same work.
Prime said it has delivered proposals to the union that would boost wages and benefits and be competitive with other hospitals in the market.
The statement didn’t address staffing concerns. But company spokeswoman Elizabeth Nikels recently said Prime has established “extensive resources and nationwide strategies” to fast-track hiring and retention of workers.
Meanwhile, employees say they’re overworked.
Dolores Aguilar, a unit secretary at St. Francis, said workers are exhausted, overwhelmed and struggling to provide quality care.
“Prime executives are bargaining in bad faith and are refusing to listen to us about worker and patient safety,” she said.
Employees at the four Primecare hospitals waged another five-day strike in October over the same issues.
Prime bought St. Francis through bankruptcy in 2020, and nurses say management terminated 20% of the experienced nurses, cut the pay of those who remained by 12%, and instituted a three-year wage freeze during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
