This Wednesday, Healthcare Workers To Hold Simultaneous Informational Pickets at Three HCA Hospitals in Southern California
Over 3000 Healthcare Workers at Los Robles Medical Center, West Hills Medical Center, and Riverside Community Hospital Are Fighting for Safe Staffing Guidelines
What: Informational Pickets & Rallies at Three HCA-owned Hospitals To Call for Safe Staffing Levels
When: Wednesday, June 14th
12noon- 2pm: Information Pickets
12:30 p.m.: Rally with Legislative and Community Leaders
Where: Main Entrances of Following Locations:
Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center -- 215 West Janss Road -- Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
West Hills Hospital & Medical Center -- 7300 Medical Center Drive -- West Hills, CA 91307
Riverside Community Hospital -- 4445 Magnolia Avenue -- Riverside, CA 92501
Visual: Healthcare workers in hospital scrubs, picket signs, chanting.
Southern California - This Wednesday, healthcare workers fighting for safe staffing guidelines will hold informational pickets and rallies at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, and Riverside Community Hospital. Over 3000 Registered Nurses, Certified Licensed Vocational Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Surgical Technologists, Housekeepers, Clerical Workers, Operating Room Technicians, Emergency Technicians, and other healthcare workers represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West and SEIU 121 RN are fighting for fair contracts featuring safe staffing guidelines, pensions, quality health plans, competitive wages, greater job security, and an end to forced overtime. The healthcare workers' current contract is set to expire on June 30th at the three hospitals, all of which are owned by for-profit parent corporation HCA. In 2005, HCA reported profits of $1.4 billion.
Healthcare workers say that the three hospitals are chronically understaffed, causing serious patient care problems. Many caregivers also say that staffing levels are set by corporate policy makers at
HCA headquarters in Nashville, not by local healthcare workers themselves. In Northern California, over 1000 caregivers at HCA-owned Regional Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose are also fighting for a fair contract featuring the same patient care standards.
