News of the Month — September 2022

NewsSeptember 28, 2022

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Capital and Main featured NUHW members Jessica Dominguez, a Kaiser therapist at Richmond’s La Clinica, and Jesus Solorio, a bilingual Kaiser therapist in Oakland, in a story about Kaiser mental health services shortage being worse for non-English speakers.

Gov. Newsom signed a law that gives California farmworkers new ways to vote in union elections beyond physical polling places on farm property, the Christian Science Monitor reported. The agreement also includes a cap on the number of unionization petitions over the next five years and will allow state regulators to better protect worker confidentiality and safety. It would do away with an option for workers to unionize through mail-in voting that is contained in the current language, but keeps a “card check” election process.

Former NUHW member Taylor Davison is featured in a New York Times story about Providence’s Rev-Up program, which instructed employees on how to approach and wring money out of patients–even those who were supposed to receive free care because of their low incomes. If patients did not pay, Providence sent debt collectors to pursue them. 

FoxLA reported that a nurse who was coming into work to begin his overnight shift was stabbed in the neck and slashed on his right hand at a hospital in Panorama City and the search continued for the assailant, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The attack happened after the nurse crossed paths with a stranger who was dressed in black clothing. The suspect suddenly took out a knife and stabbed the nurse. 

NUHW member and child therapist at Kaiser Alex Petrakis is included in a CNN story about unions striking over more than just money, but for better schedules, safety and working conditions. Petrakis said the poor quality of care and Kaiser’s inability to schedule visits for new patients for up to six weeks because of staffing issues, have pushed her and her co-workers to walk out.

Major depression is prevalent among nearly 1 in 10 Americans and almost 1 in 5 adolescents and young adults, according to an analysis from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. Becker’s Hospital Review reported that Depression increased rapidly among adolescents and young adults and increased among nearly all sex, racial/ethnic, income, and education groups. Depression prevalence did not change among adults aged 35 years and older, and the prevalence of seeking help remained consistently low across the study period.

The Sacramento Bee reported that California union members could receive tax credits to reimburse a portion of their dues payments under a bill awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. Assembly Bill 158, approved by the Legislature asks the state Franchise Tax Board to develop proposals for how much money union members might be able to get back — calculated as a percentage of their dues — with a $400 million allocation. Anyone who pays $100 or less each year in dues would be eligible for a credit equal to their full dues.