148 Healthcare Workers in San Francisco Vote to Join SEIU-UHW to Improve COVID-19 Safety, Patient Care, Jobs

148 Healthcare Workers in San Francisco Vote to Join SEIU-UHW to Improve COVID-19 Safety, Patient Care, Jobs

For Immediate Release:
December 15, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Nearly 150 healthcare workers at Vibra Kentfield Hospital San Francisco voted to improve pandemic safety, patient care, and jobs by uniting in SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), a union of 97,000 healthcare workers across California.

“We saw our first COVID-19 patient in February — but we haven’t had the safety, staffing, or protective equipment we need to keep patients and caregivers safe,” said Kim Rodriguez, a certified nursing assistant at Vibra Kentfield Hospital San Francisco. “Now we’ll have a strong voice to improve patient care and COVID-19 safety at our hospital — and to negotiate fairer wages and benefits for the caregivers on the frontlines of this pandemic.”

The vote count was overwhelming: 89 percent of the workers voting supported joining SEIU-UHW. The vote applies to a variety of job classes at the long-term acute care facility, including registered nurses, respiratory therapists, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, and monitor technicians.

This comes just three months after 214 workers at Vibra Kentfield Hospital in Marin voted to join the union. 120 workers at Vibra Kentfield Hospital of Sacramento voted to join SEIU-UHW in 2015.

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CONTACT: Renée Saldaña
[email protected]

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is one of the largest unions of hospital workers in the United States, with 97,000 members.