Another Statewide Strike Coming to UCI Medical Center Amid Outsourcing Fight
UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange is set to be swarmed by a sea of green shirts tomorrow as a union representing its workers goes out on strike–again. This time, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 picket lines want to draw attention to a trio of unfair labor practice (ULP) charges filed by the union last month alleging that the University of California is illegally outsourcing union jobs statewide.
Workers at all ten UC campuses and five medical centers are walking off the job on five major strike lines. They’re objecting to a purported plan to further privatize the UC system while driving down wages and benefits.
“We want the university to stop their illegal outsourcing, not only because it undermines our work but they’re also exploiting these workers from these other companies that are paying them low wages,” says Monica De Leon, unit secretary in UCI Medical Center’s labor and delivery department and vice president of AFSCME 3299’s patient care technical unit. “It’s now a threat that affects us close to home here at UC Irvine and across the state.”
One charge filed on Apr. 29 with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board alleges that the UC system violated the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA). The union contends that the university secretly and unilaterally contracted out bargaining unit work with no notice given to AFSCME 3299 and then turned around to claim that it had every right to bypass negotiations with them in doing so.
Read more: https://ocweekly.com/another-statewide-strike-coming-to-uci-medical-center-amid-outsourcing-fight/