The members of UE Local 1004 who work for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, CA are on a one-day unfair labor practice strike today.
If you're on social media, you can help support their strike by sharing the strike posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“We are striking to protest the hospital administration’s illegal attempts to intimidate us,” said Stacy Suarez, a surgical tech at the hospital. “We have a legal right to act together to let management know what we need in bargaining, and they are trying to silence our voices.”
The hospital administration has prohibited its employees from wearing union insignia or discussing negotiations, which is a violation of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. It has threatened reprisals against employees for exercising their rights to concerted activity protected by the Act, and has interfered with the rights of members of the union bargaining committee to participate in negotiations.
Local 1004 members are also frustrated with the hospital administration’s refusal to meaningfully address low wages in contract bargaining.
“We have been busting our butts for the community for the last ten years, but hospital administrators just continue to show us how much we are not valued,” said Emergency Department Monitor Tech Ashley Clemons. “We’re losing so many seasoned, good people because of the pay, and when that happens it’s the patients that we care for that suffer in the long run.”
Local 1004 is currently in negotiations with Henry Mayo for a new collective bargaining agreement covering 700 employees, including patient care attendants, techs, and other support staff.
