Staff at Planned Parenthood clinics around the Central Coast voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike this week. The union, including medical assistants and physicians, claim that management has engaged in unfair labor practices during contract negotiations and refuses to address the “urgent short-staffing crisis.”
If the union chooses to move ahead with the strike, it would affect six Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) locations, including Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, which provide reproductive and sexual healthcare services on a sliding fee scale to support access to all patients, no matter their income.
Patients would struggle to access care during a strike, but workers argue that clinics are already experiencing longer wait times and other obstacles due to staffing shortages. Reproductive healthcare providers nationwide were also just cut off from Title X funding, removing $390,000 from PPCCC’s cash pool.
“We work here because we care deeply about our patients and our community. But there’s only so much we can do when we’re constantly understaffed and management refuses to bargain in good faith,” said Mike Solemar, a physician at PPCCC.
“Patients are waiting longer and sometimes not getting seen at all. We believe in our mission to provide quality reproductive care for anyone who walks through our doors. Enough is enough. We need management to stop the unfair labor practices and listen to the frontline healthcare workers.”
According to a press release from the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West union, workers have proposed solutions to the staffing crisis and “patient safety issues.” However, it claims that management “continues to reject their efforts and commit unfair labor practices in the process.”
Despite these claims, PPCCC management maintains that it has negotiated with the union in good faith. To date, they have participated in 14 bargaining sessions, according to PPCCC CEO Jenna Tosh.
“Throughout those sessions, we have maintained a respectful and productive working relationship, which has allowed us to make great progress,” Tosh said.
So far, they have reached tentative agreements on 15 items, “with just a few outstanding items remaining” that they are actively working to resolve, she added. Because of this, she said they were “surprised to learn through social media” about the union’s strike authorization.
Management has not yet received an unfair labor practice charge, she said. She also claims that the union has not contacted management directly about the issue, nor have they received a formal 10-day strike notice, which is required before a health care strike can occur.
While she said PPCCC supports the right of its employees to engage in a strike, “the reality is, discussions never stalled, and PPCCC has responded to all proposals with thoughtful, reasonable counter proposals that reflect our commitment to our staff and the good faith bargaining process. Our hope is that we can continue to work together to reach agreement on the outstanding contract provisions — as we have done over the past nine months.”
Workers have not yet set a date for the strike.
