Update: UC receives strike notice from AFSCME Union

An update from UC Davis Health CEO Dr. David Lubarsky about today’s strike notice from AFSCME.

Today we have received a notice from AFSCME union leaders stating they intend to ask their represented employees to go on strike, starting first thing on Wednesday, November 20, through the end of the day on Thursday, November 21.

Unfortunately, the union has long signaled its intention to use strikes as part of reaching a new contract agreement with UC.  Since January, UC’s Office of the President has been negotiating with AFSCME.  UC has offered increases totaling 26% over the course of a five-year contract for eligible employees.  The goal of these negotiations is for lowest paid workers to receive the largest pay increases, including additional subsidies to help pay health care premiums.  You can read more about the negotiations here.

While bargaining takes place statewide for all of UC’s locations, this labor action will happen here.  The union says there will be some picketing at locations in front of the UC Davis Medical Center and, at some times, around the Cancer Center and the Ellison/ACC Building.

These pickets will not impact our ability to care for patients, and we do not expect significant disruptions from this labor activity.

For those who are represented by AFSCME, we know you face a difficult decision. Whether you choose to work as normal, providing our patients with the care they need and deserve, or choose to honor your union’s request, please know that UC Davis Health appreciates you and respects the choice you make.  We respect and value the compassionate, quality work you do every day for our patients. When this strike is over, we look forward to coming back together as one team and one family, keeping our patients at the center of everything we do.

Throughout this, we all must keep our patients top-of-mind, whether we are testing or treating their cancer, safely delivering their new baby, or reversing their heart attack.  Patients are what bring us all together and what we all care about, first and foremost.  We are not an ordinary business, we are a lifeline for our patients and a community asset.

UC pays some of the highest health care wages in the country (according to data from the US Department of Labor).  The biggest cost of health care is the labor to deliver it, and as we are seeing during our current Open Enrollment, the cost of health care insurance is already painfully high.  Since we are all patients somewhere, in addition to being employees here, we need to be mindful of how much further costs increase for everyone.

We will get through this strike, and the ones that will likely follow it, by staying focused on our patients.  Ultimately, these issues will be resolved at the bargaining table, and I look forward to the day when we are all in agreement.