Oakland, California — On Wednesday, February 11, Alameda Health System (AHS) employees united in SEIU Local 1021 will rally at noon in front of Wilma Chan Highland hospital to fight the mass layoffs imposed by AHS management. On the 11th, AHS management will also post notices about an upcoming hearing, scheduled for February 25, required by the` Beilenson Act, which requires such a hearing when a county board proposes significant changes, including reductions in services, to medical services at county facilities.

The layoffs were first announced in December, with the first notices to employees to be laid off scheduled to come out on Christmas Eve. The stated reason for the layoffs was projected financial shortfalls to come as a result of Congressional funding reductions in HR 1, the Big Ugly Bill. Currently, AHS is still in budget. Many AHS workers have been placed on paid leave and instructed not to work while the layoff process continues, meaning AHS is paying workers not to provide medical care as a response to funding cuts that have not yet been made.

These layoffs are system-wide, and will cut jobs including attending physicians, cafeteria workers, physician assistants, immunity health outreach workers, patient care assistants in the ICU, Environmental Services workers, and many other positions that directly support the patients who depend on Alameda Health System. Entire programs are on the chopping block, including the Intensive Outpatient Program at Fairmont Hospital, a program that provides major support and psychiatric care designed to keep patients in their communities, with improved life skills and reintegration into jobs and families. Without this program, patients will end up seeking care from emergency rooms or face reinstitutionalization or worse.

Maria Betancourt is a specialist clerk at John George Psychiatric Hospital, and serves as the SEIU 1021 Alameda Health System chapter president. She herself received a layoff notice and is currently on paid leave. She said, “The way AHS management is cutting holes in our community’s safety net is heartbreaking. Their attempt to address a future budget problem by paying people not to work now makes as little sense as cutting programs that keep people off the streets and out of the emergency room, out of John George, and out of Santa Rita Jail. We need management to come to the table and work productively with us to stop these brutal cuts and save jobs.”

Where: Wilma Chan Highland Hospital (31st & Stuart intersection)
When: Noon, February 11
What: Rally Against Healthcare Layoffs
Who: Laid-off healthcare workers, doctors and nurses, Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Márquez, representatives from the offices of Liz Ortega, Mia Bonta, Jesse Arreguin, Aisha Wahab, and Keith Brown from the Alameda Labor Council