Local healthcare workers rallied at Harry Griffen Park in La Mesa on Labor Day, calling for better working conditions and higher pay.
The crowd of about 200 people, included union members from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Health Care Workers West.
Some of them work at Kaiser Permanente, Sharp, and Fresenius Kidney Care.
Rallies were also held in Oakland and Los Angeles.
"COVID shined a light on a big problem. The volume of patients we received during the pandemic until now has left us understaffed, and overworked and it has shined a light on not being paid enough. Especially here. I mean San Diego, the cost of living is ridiculous," said Haba Serrano, an Emergency Room Technician at Sharp Grossmont.
He said he knows doctors who have not bought a house and it makes him think he will never be able to afford to buy in San Diego either.
He said workers are burned out. He said in the emergency room at Sharp Grossmont they see around 300-400 patients daily.
"These corporations bet on the fact that we’re going to do the right thing, even though there's not enough of us. We're going to answer every call and go to every patient because we actually care about the patient. They know we’ll do the work of three [people] for one person," said Serrano,
Several speakers took the podium, many work in the healthcare industry. Local politicians including San Diego City Council member Raul Campillo and San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer also attended the event.
According to a spokesperson for SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, many of the union members are going through contract negotiations right now.
A spokesperson for Kaiser sent CBS 8 the following statement:
We remain committed to bargaining with our Coalition unions in good faith and in the spirit of partnership, working together to address the many complex issues at both local and national bargaining tables. We are confident that we will reach an agreement that achieves this goal before the national agreement expires on September 30.
As a result of the value we place on treating our people with respect, we’re committed to providing a positive, safe, and equitable work environment and to being a best place to work. Because of our efforts, Kaiser Permanente has weathered the pandemic and its related health-care-wide staffing challenges better than most health care organizations. While most health care organizations are experiencing an employee turnover rate of 21.4%, Kaiser Permanente’s average employee turnover rate is only 8.5%.
We hired over 29,000 new employees in 2022 and are on pace to exceed that substantially in 2023, despite the pandemic-driven labor shortage happening across health care. We believe this is because talented people recognize the value of our current wage and benefit offerings and want to work at Kaiser Permanente. About 96% of candidates for Coalition-represented positions accept our employment offers — significantly above the industry average.