Workers say low pay, high turnover, and years of understaffing by hospital executives are eroding the quality of care for critically ill and seriously injured children in San Diego.
Workers say low pay, high turnover, and years of understaffing by hospital executives are eroding the quality of care for critically ill and seriously injured children in San Diego.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 14, 2026
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Healthcare workers at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego’s only pediatric trauma center, are warning that chronic understaffing is compromising care for critically ill and injured children, with some patients waiting hours for basic needs to be met while workers are stretched to cover multiple roles at once.
More than 1,500 workers at Rady Children’s Hospital voted earlier this month to form a union, allowing them to negotiate for improved staffing levels and working conditions. But hospital executives have filed objections to delay that process, a move workers say is frivolous and prioritizes profits over patient care.
The workers, including patient care assistants, food service staff, and environmental services staff, are calling on executives at Rady Children’s Hospital to drop the frivolous objections and begin negotiations immediately.
“We pour our hearts into caring for children every day at work, but I’ve had a young patient go three hours in a soiled diaper because we didn’t have the staff to change him,” said Aurora Alvarado, a Patient Care Assistant in the Hematology-Oncology Unit at Rady Children’s Hospital. “If management cared about these children the way we do, they would invest in staffing, not raises for their executives.”
The concerns of healthcare workers have garnered support from at least 29 elected leaders and organizations across San Diego, including a majority of the County Board of Supervisors.
Workers say they will continue to advocate for patients and push for negotiations regardless of management’s legal tactics.
The 1,500 Rady Children’s Hospital workers join approximately 8,500 San Diego-area healthcare workers who have voted to join SEIU-UHW since 2023, including 6,000 at Sharp HealthCare, 550 at Planned Parenthood, and more than 400 dialysis workers.
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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.