Hundreds of clinical lab scientists, microbiologists, medical laboratory technicians and other workers at Santa Clara County hospitals and public health labs planned an unfair labor practice strike in response to the county’s failure to negotiate in good faith.
The strikes took place on Monday, March 24 to Wednesday, March 26 from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and O’Connor Hospital, 10 minutes away from SJSU campus, according to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers webpage.
Daniel Biocini, a clinical lab scientist manager of phlebotomy and accessioning at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said that contract talks with the county have left them feeling underappreciated.
“Throughout the COVID (19) pandemic, we kept coming to work to take care of our patients, even when it meant risking our own safety and the safety of our families,” Biocini said. “This is the first contract we’ve negotiated since the start of the pandemic and instead of making sure we’re able to keep living in our area and coming to work, county negotiators want to strip us of our basic rights.”
Healthcare workers have since been working under the same contract and recently started negotiations with the county that have gone nowhere resulting in disagreements between both parties.
Jaspal Sandhu, a clinical lab scientist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and a member of the negotiating team, said that Santa Clara County has been negotiating in bad faith and stands with Engineers and Scientists of California (ESC), according to the same advisory.
“Our members have given us the mandate to insist on good faith bargaining so we can continue to deliver quality patient care and reject the county’s effort to forcibly waive our rights,” Sandhu said. “We remain committed to working towards reaching a fair agreement but will strike if necessary to try to put an end to the County’s bad faith.”
The union has said that the Santa Clara County has been negotiating in bad faith since contract talks began last year in July by failing to explain certain proposals that would waive workers rights. These would include the right to negotiate working conditions in the future and to collectively take action to improve patient care, according to the same source.
Joana Santos, a clinical laboratory scientist at St. Louise Regional Hospital, said that the proposals from the country can put patients' lives at risk.
“Our patients deserve better, for they trust us with our health,” Santos said. “We need to continue their trust.”
Santa Clara County offered the ESC a wage increase of nearly 16% over a four year period of the contract, according to a press statement.
James R. Williams, Santa Clara County executive and chief operating officer, said he wants to resolve the contract negotiations and ensure that all lab services provided are still active during the strikes, according to the same press statement.
“Our highest priority is making sure that all critical lab work can proceed so that our patients who rely on our services receive the compassionate and critical health care that they need,” Williams said. “Our ESC-represented staff are committed public servants and the county is committed to reaching a fair and sustainable contract for both sides, so that together we can provide the highest quality health care to our community.”
ESC workers unanimously voted at the end of February to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike had nearly 90% of eligible workers participate in the vote and 100% of participants voting to strike, according to the press statement.
Marianne Kaletzky, the communication specialist at ESC, said that everyone was engaged and wanted to fight back against the bad faith negotiations going on between the Santa Clara County and ESC union members.
“Yeah union members were really mobilized, they were really engaged,” Kaletzky said. “Actually those three days out on the picket line, we saw the vast majority of the members out there every single day.”
The ESC Union has gotten support from many community members and union groups.
“We're also fortunate to have a lot of support from the community,” Kaletzky said. “The nurses union, a lot of their unions, the Seafarers International Union that also works in the hospital and community allies to support us as well, they all came out.
