Healthcare Workers Strike In Burbank

About 700 healthcare workers at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank walked off the job on Monday for a strike that's expected to last five days.

According to United Healthcare Workers West, the union representing the workers, the strike was prompted by the hospital’s “bad faith bargaining and other illegal tactics” following the expiration of their previous contract in August.

“We are being intimidated and threatened for wanting to improve our hospital, while Providence executives bargain in bad faith over solutions to our short-staffing crisis,” said Christian Ayon, one of the striking healthcare workers.

This latest strike follows a three-day strike involving Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers earlier this month who have since reached a contract agreement, and a walkout by workers at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

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Eric Sanitate, a respiratory therapist, sits on the bargaining committee and said the hospital lost “a ton of staff.“

“People were leaving for more money and better working conditions elsewhere in a very tight healthcare labor market, and Providence really didn't see the need to compete,” he said. “We've only had a 6% raise around here over the last three years.”

The striking workers, Sanitate said, are asking for comparable wages that Providence workers in the Tarzana and Mission Hills locations get.

A Providence St. Joseph spokesperson said that each of the hospitals within the Providence network sets their own compensation scales, adding that their proposal includes "wages that are above market averages for all positions in this contract."

In a statement to LAist, St. Joseph Medical Center said they offered striking workers “a 24% increase in wages over a three-year contract and significant market wage adjustments for many jobs. Unfortunately, the union has offered unrealistic counterproposals in response and has chosen to strike instead of continuing contract negotiations.”

Promise Rainey has worked at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center for 17 years in the ER department as an emergency services technician and a phlebotomist. She said the lack of a significant raise in the last three years has affected her life.

“It's not keeping up with the cost of living, we were everybody's heroes three years ago, and they were sending us support and sending us food, but that doesn't pay rent,” she said. “It doesn't buy groceries, it doesn't pay for gas, and our contract has not kept up with that, so it's only gotten worse each corresponding year.”

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center said they are prepared for the strike and it will not affect care. In response to the allegations of bad faith bargaining, the healthcare provider added, “Providence Saint Joseph is committed to respectful discourse and urges caregivers to report concerns in a variety of ways, including via an anonymous integrity hotline.”