LOS ANGELES – About 42,000 service and patient care workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299, who have been working two years without a contract, are preparing to go on an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike at multiple facilities across the University of California system.
The open-ended strike, set to begin early on May 14, will be the first of its kind in the history of the UC health care network, according to Local 3299.
It represents a major escalation in the workers’ fight for higher wages, housing aid and affordable health care. Local 3299 members have gone on a series of ULP strikes of limited duration in the past over the same issues.
“For more than three years, AFSCME 3299 has worked to negotiate successor agreements that address the acute affordability crisis facing the university’s front-line service and patient care workforce,” said Local 3299 President Michael Avant, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “Instead of bargaining in good faith, UC has illegally imposed terms that leave us further behind and refused to bargain over the housing crisis that has left our members sleeping in their cars and living in homeless shelters. We have been left with no choice but to strike.”
Local 3299 represents service workers like custodians, groundskeepers, food service workers, parking and security personnel throughout the UC system statewide. The union’s patient care units include medical assistants, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technicians, operating room assistants, respiratory therapists and licensed vocational nurses.
Unless a last-minute agreement is reached, workers will be on strike at all 10 UC campuses, as well as medical centers, research laboratories, clinics , and other UC facilities across the state.
The open-ended strike was announced one month ago, giving management time to either negotiate a deal or develop a contingency plan to maintain operations during the legally protected strike. Despite recent talks, there has been no contract agreement or a resolution to the underlying unfair labor practice charges.
“Our team continues to bargain in good faith, but thus far talks have fallen short on core economic issues, including housing and health care costs that would leave many members worse off and unable to afford the same quality of care they deliver every day,” Avant said. “If UC fails to rectify the terms it illegally imposed and refuses to address the core issues driving the affordability crisis for its most vulnerable employees, our members will be on strike on Thursday morning."
As in the past, several dozen critical care workers are exempted from taking part in the strike. Local 3299 also created a patient protection task force — a line of communication with UC hospitals — that will enable certain striking workers to support emergencies during the work stoppage if UC’s contingency plans are insufficient to meet patient needs.