Workers at Sutter psychiatric hospital in Sacramento join union over pay, staffing concerns
Social workers, therapists and other health care workers at Sutter Center for Psychiatry in Sacramento said Monday that they had voted overwhelmingly to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
The union said the workers began organizing at the 73-bed hospital earlier this year after Sutter ignored the workers’ concerns about pay, staffing levels and working conditions.
“I’ve witnessed the fear in my colleagues’ eyes when faced with safety risks and the threat of retaliation from management as they struggle to stretch their paychecks to meet the demands of our current economy,” said Lindsay Thuy Dao, a recreational therapist. “Joining NUHW will ensure that we have a guaranteed voice in matters that deeply affect every aspect of our lives.”
A Sutter Health spokesperson said the company’s top priority at Sutter Center for Psychiatry has been — and will continue to be — to provide safe, high-quality, affordable care to patients. The spokesman said company leaders would prefer to continue working directly with employees, “without the involvement of an outside third party,” but they respect employees’ right to choose.
“Sutter is doing everything we can to support the emotional and physical well-being of our caregivers while working to meet national staffing challenges head on, including offering competitive pay and benefits and hiring additional staff to fill permanent and temporary positions,” according to the statement from the Sutter spokesperson.
Dao and others voted via mail, and ballots were counted last week. Union officials said they would survey the 154 workers they now represent to determine their priorities as they prepare for bargaining with management.
“I want those of us who spend so much time learning who our patients are as humans to be a part of their treatment and to be involved in setting policies,” said Amanda Jaramillo, a unit secretary at the hospital.
NUHW represents more than 4,000 psychologists, therapists, social workers and psychiatric nurses in facilities around the state operated by such companies as Kaiser Permanente and AHMC, or Advanced Healthcare Management Corp.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
