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The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult and frightening time for all of our members—those who are still working on the frontlines of this crisis to provide service, and those of us at home keeping ourselves and our families safe during this pandemic.

Throughout this crisis, SEIU 1021 leaders in San Francisco have been working hard to ensure the health, safety, and economic well-being of our members, families, and communities. We’re excited to announce new victories for workers in San Francisco below. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious public health threat, and many SEIU 1021 members are on the front lines of keeping the public healthy while keeping each other safe. In Alameda County, workers across the public health system have stood together to demand an end to the chronic mismanagement and underfunding that have endangered workers and underserved the public for years – and their solidarity is getting results.

After a series of actions, including lunchtime rallies, marches, testimony at Board of Supervisors meetings, and an emergency press conference in front of Oakland’s Highland Hospital, AHS management has agreed to pay workers who are forced to self-quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus at work.

John Pearson, an emergency room nurse and President of the AHS chapter, said, “We have been fighting understaffing and not enough equipment and inadequate training for years and years, and today we had a massive win. I’m so proud of my coworkers and so glad to be union strong in the face of COVID-19.”

Nurses across the country are sharing their stories of empty storage closets and makeshift safety equipment in the fight against COVID-19 on social media. John Pearson, an emergency room nurse from Alameda Hospital in California and SEIU 1021 member, is among those online exposing these hospital shortages and calling for the need for personal protective equipment.

“The scariest thing for us who work at the bedside is having to make life and death choices because we don’t have enough staffing and equipment,” said Pearson.