SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Hundreds of health care workers from nearly two dozen clinics across California, including in San Diego County, went on strike Monday over what they say are unfair labor practices, staffing shortages, and the violation of workers’ rights under federal labor law.
Patient care technicians with Fresenius Medical Care work with patients who need dialysis. Some patients visit the clinics every day in order to receive treatment.
Local workers who hit the picket line for the two-day strike told ABC 10News the unfair working conditions have been going on for some time now.
“This goes back way before COVID,” said worker Richard Guerrero. “We normally work with a 1-to-4 patient ratio but now it's been about 8 [patients] to 1 [worker].”
Guerrero said he’s been working with Fresenius Medical Care, at the El Cajon clinic, for five years now. He said he trains technicians when they start.
The technician also said keeping employees around have been difficult. This makes it harder for the current employees to care for patients.
Statewide, there are currently 22 facilities striking Monday and Tuesday – that’s approximately 700 technicians on the picket line.
The union that represents the workers are currently in negotiations with Fresenius Medical Care. Workers said they are looking for increased staffing and better wages.
Many employees said they are prepared to schedule more strike days if a negotiation is not met soon. More strikes are already scheduled for Tuesday across the state.
ABC 10News reached out to Fresenius Medical Care and they responded with the following statement:
Our patients’ safety and care remain our top priority.
Our Fresenius Kidney Care clinic locations in California where strikes may occur have contingency plans in place to ensure that our patients receive the safe, high-quality care they count on us for.
We respect our employees’ rights to engage in this action and other lawful activities. Fresenius Kidney Care is committed to bargaining in good faith and to reaching agreements that support our employees and our mission of patient service. Negotiations with SEIU-UHW are just at the beginning stages – to date, we have had two “framework” sessions that are designed to reach alignment on the various topics that would become standard language across multiple clinic contracts/locations. Given this, we are surprised and disappointed that the union is already calling for a strike.
We look forward to resuming negotiations at our next session and encourage SEIU-UHW to focus its efforts at the bargaining table where meaningful progress can be made.
