Sutter Health reneges on commitments to city and community of San Francisco
California Pacific Medical Center
Sutter Health, the corporation that operates California Pacific Medical Center’s four San Francisco facilities, is reneging on its commitments to the people of San Francisco.
Despite its high profit margins, Sutter plans to eliminate 24 skilled nursing beds and is demanding huge cost increases for employee health insurance that, along with other cuts, would make it more difficult for its caregivers — 89 percent of whom are people of color and 61 percent of whom are women — to live in the community they serve, contributing to the city’s rapid gentrification.
But Sutter’s workers, the vast majority of whom are women and people of color, are taking a stand. Last month, 98 percent of CPMC employees represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers voted to authorize their leaders to call a one-day strike if necessary to protest these unfair labor practices that undermine community standards for patient care and place undue burdens on those who provide it.