Hundreds of unionized employees at UC San Diego Health and UCSF Health are staging one-day strikes this week, protesting recent layoffs that labor groups allege threaten patient care and exacerbate staffing shortages across the University of California health system.
On July 22, about 230 workers at UC San Diego Health participated in a one-day strike following the health system’s decision to eliminate about 230 positions — less than 2% of its 14,000-person workforce — including frontline roles such as pharmacists, clinical social workers and laboratory scientists. Managerial and administrative positions were also impacted.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a labor union that represents more than 37,000 UC workers, organized the strike.
“UC has a legal, financial and moral obligation to consider alternatives to layoffs — especially when layoffs could undermine the quality of patient care,” AFSCME Local 3299 President and UCSD Patient Transporter Michael Avant said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “Cutting the lowest-paid frontline patient care positions out of the hospitals’ labor budgets and adding their duties to remaining staff was the option with the greatest human toll, but it was the only option UC considered.”
The University Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents many of the laid-off staff, criticized the cuts as “wholly unnecessary” and harmful to patient care. In a statement, the union cited “at least five examples” where workers were sent home mid-shift without the ability to complete patient notes or hand off cases to colleagues.
UC San Diego Health leadership cited “mounting financial pressures” resulting from federal changes affecting healthcare, regulatory instability and escalating care delivery costs for the decision. In a June 23 memo to employees, CEO Patricia Maysent also said the move was driven by growing care delivery costs and stagnant reimbursement rates, despite the system reporting a 4.1% operating margin for the first nine months of the fiscal year, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The health system said all hospitals and clinics will remain open and fully operational during the strike, with contingency plans in place to minimize patient disruption, a spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s.
At UCSF Health, a similar one-day strike is scheduled for July 25, following the elimination of about 200 positions. According to the health system, the cuts — which represent about 1% of its workforce — were part of a broader strategy to address rising operating costs and low reimbursement levels.
While UCSF Health emphasized that emergency services and most scheduled appointments will continue during the walkout, union leaders and healthcare workers voiced concern over the timing and long-term effect of the layoffs.
“Our vision remains unchanged: to be the best provider of health care services, the best place to work, and the best environment for teaching and research,” UCSF said in a statement. “Staffing changes are aimed at safeguarding our ability to do that — for the patients and communities who count on us — well into the future.”
Across both systems, labor unions have pointed to broader concerns about how UC leaders are prioritizing growth and capital investments over staffing. UPTE recently highlighted that UC San Diego Health has continued hospital expansion projects and extended a $20 million loan to Palomar Health — a move they argue contradicts claims of financial duress.
Earlier this month, San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare, a private health system, also announced the layoff of 315 employees — about 1.5% of its workforce — along with executive pay cuts. The layoffs primarily affected nonclinical roles, and unlike the public University of California system, Sharp said it is trimming senior leadership compensation by up to 25%.
Both labor and management now face intensifying scrutiny as financial pressures and federal policy debates continue to ripple across the University of California health system.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.
