Healthcare Workers at Alameda Prison Services Set Strike Deadline

Substandard conditions for workers and patients at issue

Oakland - Healthcare workers at Alameda County’s Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and Glenn Dyer jail in Oakland announced today that they will give formal strike notice to their employer, Prison Health Services (PHS), on December 2, if a new contract agreement is not reached.

The caregivers are represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and include RN’s, LVNs, certified nursing assistants, technicians, and clerical workers. The workers point to wages that are 35% to 40% below area averages, resulting in dramatic understaffing. They consider the low staffing levels to be so serious that the facilities are no longer safe for the caregivers or the inmates/patients they care for. Workers also highlight the fact that under the contract with the Sheriff’s Department, PHS is paid a rate based on specific staffing levels, but on most days reaches only about half those levels.

"Staffing at half the level that is required by the contract between the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department and Prison Health Services is not only unsafe for the caregivers and the patients, but PHS is also breaking its commitments to taxpayers and the Sheriff’s Department,” said SEIU UHW President Sal Rosselli.

PHS, a Tennessee-based for-profit corporation, was the subject of a three-part New York Times expose in February, 2005 for practices harmful to the well-being of patients/inmates, issues similar to those cited by the healthcare workers in Alameda County. Access the entire article here.