FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 30, 2025

CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST – Frontline Healthcare workers at six Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) clinics in Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo, have announced they will go on a two-day strike on June 10 and 11 in response to management’s continued unfair labor practices and refusal to address a deepening staffing crisis. The announcement follows nine months of attempted bargaining and a unanimous vote to authorize the strike earlier this month.

 

“We don’t want to go on strike, but we feel like we have to,” said Emily Medal, a Clinician at Planned Parenthood Santa Barbara. “We need management to stop bargaining in bad faith so that we can finally address short staffing. Our patients wait for weeks for an appointment, rearrange their whole day, often arranging childcare or missing work, and they can’t even get seen, or are rushed through. That’s not care. That’s a crisis.”

 

Workers say their dedication to Planned Parenthood’s mission remains unwavering, but management has refused to meaningfully engage frontline staff on solutions to staffing shortages and patient care issues. At a time when Planned Parenthood workers are under political attack by Congress, their own employer’s unwillingness to engage on critical issues is particularly galling. 

 

“We are proud to serve our communities and defend reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare in the face of political threats,” said Rebekah Hosman, a Physician Assistant at Planned Parenthood Ventura. “But we shouldn’t have to worry about our own management refusing to bargain in good faith or shutting us out of decisions that directly impact our patients and our working conditions, especially during a time of budget cuts.”

 

PPCCC workers have proposed multiple solutions to improve staffing, retention, and patient safety, but management continues to reject those proposals while committing unfair labor practices. Workers say they want a voice in how Planned Parenthood responds to financial challenges, instead of decisions being made behind closed doors that worsen conditions for both staff and patients. 

 

The strike will include a wide range of essential health center staff across six clinics in Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo. Striking workers include medical assistants, health educators, clinicians, and support staff who provide vital reproductive and preventive healthcare services to thousands of patients each year. 

 

# # # # # 

 

Media Contact:
Renée Saldaña, [email protected]
(213) 479-5137 

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a healthcare justice union of more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients, and healthcare activists united to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality care for all Californians provided by valued and respected healthcare workers. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.