Healthcare workers across Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and its affiliated facilities have voted to join SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, forming a new bargaining unit following an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
According to the NLRB, 1,110 ballots were cast, with 564 workers voting in favor and 546 against. The vote covers approximately 1,500 nonclinical workers, including environmental services attendants, patient care assistants, medical assistants, patient access representatives, food service workers and medical interpreters.
“We voted to unionize for the same reason thousands of other healthcare workers across San Diego have done so — to improve patient care, staffing levels, and jobs in this community,” Aurora Alvarado, a patient care assistant at Rady Children’s, said in a Jan. 6 union news release.
SEIU-UHW represents more than 120,000 healthcare workers across California. Since 2023, about 8,500 healthcare workers in the San Diego area — including employees at Sharp HealthCare and Planned Parenthood — have joined the union.
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego is a 511-bed pediatric hospital.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, Rady acknowledged the tally and noted that “the initial tally shows a small majority of those who cast ballots voted in favor of union representation. The results are not final until the NLRB completes its certification process and resolves any potential objections.”
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