Around 50 healthcare workers, members of their families and union organizers picketed and held a press conference at the UCSD Health campus in La Jolla Thursday.
Speakers criticized UCSD Health executives, demanding they rescind the June 23 layoff of more than 200 employees, including 22 registered nurses.
According to emcee Michael Kennedy, the chief nurse representative at UCSD Health for the California Nurses Association, layoffs cannot be blamed on budget constraints because UCSD Health has spent nearly $500 million on hospital acquisitions and expansions since 2023.
Of the 13,500 plus employees in the UCSD Health system, more than 4,000 are nurses, according to the union.
In a statement, UCSD Health said the decision to lay off team members came after a review focused on safety and operational sustainability, and was very difficult.
“We did not arrive at that decision lightly or quickly,” the statement says.
Kennedy and other speakers expressed their anger at UCSD Health executives’ 3.2% salary increases.
“We will not stand by while UCSD gambles with public health to protect executive paychecks,” Kennedy said.
Michael Kennedy speaking Thursday at a press conference in support of healthcare employees recently laid off by UCSD Health. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego)UC System President Michael Drake announced June 25 that all UC faculty and staff who are not union members would receive the salary increase.
According to public payroll data, UCSD Health CEO Patty Maysent received more than $1.5 million dollars in compensation in 2023.
The employees who were laid off had an average salary of $66,000, according to Candy Stangler, a former nursing assistant who worked in a postpartum unit.
Stangler is pregnant and said she found out she was laid off during her third trimester appointment.
Two days later, she no longer had insurance. “I’m now due in 26 days and I don’t know how I’m going to pay for the birth of my baby,” Stangler said.
Nurse Tiffany Duong said she was speaking on behalf of nurses at UCSD Health’s Hillcrest location who work with patients undergoing surgery.
According to Duong, these nurses’ workload has at least doubled since all of Hillcrest’s nurse navigators were laid off.
She said nurse navigators are responsible for calling patients, preparing them for surgery and explaining medications.
Without them, Duong said it has taken longer getting patients into surgery.
“That process should not be rushed,” Duong said. “There’s a substantial risk for error and a potential for patient harm.”
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