The strikers, members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 250, were joined on the picket line by members of the California Nurses Association. The same day, 500 hospital workers marched in downtown San Francisco to press their demands.

The unionists' main demands include an increase in staffing and reduction of the workload that would lead to better patient care and fewer work-related injuries.

On the picket line at the Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, DeAnn Horne, a union representative with 11 years' service as a care associate, had just worked nine days of back-to-back shifts, including the July 4 holiday.

"You're exhausted--there's a possibility that you can make a mistake," Horne explained. "They're throwing so many patients at us. Sometimes we don't even have time to read our charts and that is obscene."

"It used to be normal that when a worker was sick or injured on the job, the worker was replaced. But it's not the case anymore," said SEIU Local 250 president Sal Rosselli. "It's escalated work-related accidents," he noted, "all caused by short-staffing."

The hospital workers' fight coincides with a month-long strike by 1,700 nurses at two Stanford University hospitals in Palo Alto.

The bosses at the Children's Hospital in Oakland retaliated against the strikers by locking out all workers who were scheduled to work and who honored the July 6 strike. On July 8, some 150 workers held a spirited rally in front of the hospital. They received widespread support from passersby.

Negotiations on new contracts continue. The union's old contracts with the hospitals expired in May. Federal mediators are involved in the negotiations.

Deborah Liatos is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.  
 
 
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