Sutter’s secret scheme exposed
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu called it “shocking.” Supervisor David Campos called it “unbelievable.” But for those of us who work at California Pacific Medical Center and know our employer best, it’s just business as usual for Sutter Health.
As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner and the Bay Guardian, a recently leaked document showed that even while promising the public they would protect our employment and maintain vital services for the poor, Sutter executives were contemplating secret plans to cut our jobs and close San Francisco’s St. Luke’s Hospital soon after they open their massive new medical center on Cathedral Hill.
For years, our union, NUHW, along with the California Nurses Association, has been working with community groups and elected officials to make sure Sutter’s expansion is carried out in a way that’s fair to workers, patients, and San Francisco’s low-income residents – especially those who depend on St. Luke’s.
Meanwhile, Dave Regan and SEIU have teamed up with Sutter to fight us every step of the way, and help push the development project through with as few safeguards for workers and patients as possible. That’s just one of the reasons CPMC workers voted to get out of SEIU and join NUHW earlier this year.
Now, San Franciscans are learning what we’ve known all along: Sutter’s expansion plan is nothing but a scheme to maximize corporate profits at the expense of workers and patients. And SEIU, as usual, is eager to help Sutter carry it out.
San Francisco’s elected leaders are outraged at Sutter’s bald-faced lies, and at CPMC, so are we. We’re exposing Sutter’s hidden plans, protecting workers’ jobs, and telling Sutter and city leaders in no uncertain terms to Rebuild CPMC the Right Way!
Sincerely,
Helen York-Jones, Cashier, CPMC
National Union of Healthcare Workers