We are on the front lines of public health in a time of unprecedented crisis, and we are relentless in our efforts to hold AHS management accountable and force them to prioritize worker health and safety.
On March 18, we presented AHS management with our demands. Their response was to reject almost all of them, and to ask us to give up our rights to meet and confer with them over changes in working conditions. This was completely unacceptable, and we turned up the pressure, holding an emergency press conference with community and labor groups to demand that Alameda County take over control of AHS. Within two hours of our press conference, AHS announced the following new benefits:
New child care/elder care benefit offered through Bright Horizons, especially for members with children affected by school closures
Expanded telecommuting options
14 days paid administrative leave for employees directed to stay home from coronavirus exposure
14 days paid emergency sick leave for employees on quarantine
Up to 12 weeks paid emergency family leave
These go well beyond the federal guidelines: AHS was exempt from those guidelines, as it has more than 500 employees, but it adopted the federal provisions anyway, and committed to paying emergency family leave at the employee's regular wage, rather than the standard 2/3 rate.
These gains were a direct result of a unified bargaining team, an aggressive social media campaign from our members sharing their stories (click here to see why #OurPatientsDeserveBetter), the power of our members speaking with the media, and our work in the community to present a unified demand that the Board of Supervisors get involved. We are nowhere near done, but when we stick together, we can win.
AHS Members in the News (click to see the story):
Hospital housekeepers on coronavirus front lines are heroes, too (requires a subscription)
KTVU: Workers demand county take over Alameda Health System as coronavirus threat intensifies
San Jose Mercury News: Coronavirus: Alameda Health System agrees to pay sick nurses following protest
NBC Bay Area: Medical Gear Shortages “A Key Gap” in Virus Response
KALW: Bay Area Nurses Say Hospitals Underprepared For COVID-19 Crisis
The Guardian: California healthcare workers protest lack of supplies
Berkeleyside: Overcrowded in ‘normal’ times, Highland Hospital braces itself for COVID-19