Contact: Chris Flink, chris.flink@seiu1021org, 510.710.9637

La Clinica de la Raza workers will picket across the East Bay during lunchtime on Monday, December 16!

Oakland, CA— Hundreds of La Clinica de la Raza workers will picket outside nearly a dozen worksites across the East Bay on Monday to protest mismanagement and understaffing. After rallies across worksites in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties and countless contract bargaining sessions since June, workers say they’re running out of patience. That’s why they recently held a multi-day strike vote, which resulted in a 98% vote to authorize the bargaining team to call a strike, if necessary, and will be using their lunch breaks to walk a picket line on Monday.

Across the East Bay, La Clinica de la Raza workers offer culturally appropriate healthcare services to diverse and underserved populations. The vital work they do helps thousands of people every week in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano Counties. Unfortunately, La Clinica is badly understaffed, and workers there are falling far behind the cost of living in this region.

Nearly half the SEIU 1021 members at La Clinica make below the living wage for single adults in Alameda County, and 72% of them make less than the county’s living wage for families with two children. Meanwhile, the CEO and CMO each take home salaries of more than a quarter-million dollars every year.

La Clinica workers have been bargaining with management for months to get a fair new contract. Unfortunately, La Clinica management has been slow and unresponsive to the workers’ concerns. The main issues are a terrible recruitment and retention situation that is driving high turnover, large vacancy rate, and overwork and burnout for the employees who remain.

The members have rallied repeatedly across their worksites in recent weeks, speaking with one voice to say that management must staff them adequately, so they can serve the community that depends on them. Norma Ruiz, a nurse practitioner who has been with La Clinica for five and a half years, said, “Our vision is to provide quality healthcare and keep our community healthy and thriving. But we are not able meet our vision because there’s a huge issue of burnout. We can’t recruit new people and we can’t keep our current staff due to low salaries and a stressful environment, due to always working understaffed.”

“I am standing with my coworkers to demand La Clinica address the growing burnout rate in the agency and improve recruitment and retention of its workforce to keep our doors open to the patients. I was a patient at La Clinica. I’m very rooted here, because it was the place my parents and I could access care as new immigrants. Serving the same population I’m coming from is an honor,” she finished. But that honor doesn’t make up for poverty wages, high stress, and understaffing.

Garrick Hong is a Dentist 1 at Fruitvale Dental, where he’s worked for 19 years. He serves on the Bargaining Team, and said, “I think this vote makes a statement. After months of bargaining, management isn’t hearing us. We’ve come to them time after time over the months we’ve been bargaining, telling them that the last three years have seen massive inflation, and our members and their families can’t keep up. We need La Clinica management to respect us and what we’re saying. We need better communication and understanding, and a 98% YES vote speaks for itself. Management hasn’t been listening, so now we have to speak with our strike.”

Who: La Clinica workers picketing for a fair contract

Where: Locations across Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano Counties

Priority Location: La Clínica Fruitvale Village 3451 East 12th Street, Oakland

When: Noon – 1:30 p.m.

Visuals: Picketing workers, purple, banners, etc.

SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 800 workers across La Clinica’s locations, and more than 60,000 working people across Northern California. It is a is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families. We nurse our sick, educate our children, clean our schools, and care for our seniors and developmentally disabled.