USC health staff OKs contract
More than 1,500 USC workers have voted to ratify a labor contract that boosts health care benefits and provides hefty wage hikes for many employees.
The move averts a potential walkout after employees at Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, several university clinics and a university call center voted in May to authorize a five-day strike.
The three-year contract includes substantial raises and improved health benefits for the workers, which include nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, housekeepers, medical technicians and licensed vocational nurses. They are represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
Noemi Aguirre, a respiratory therapist at Keck Hospital, said she was pleased with the agreement.
“This is a fair contract that honors our hard work and ensures that Keck-USC will be able to recruit and retain top-level caregivers well into the future,” Aguirre said in a statement. “I’m proud of my co-workers for standing united during negotiations and winning a contract that will improve our lives and the care our patients receive.”
Keck and Norris hospital workers will receive raises ranging from 10.9% to 39% over the next three years. The substantially increased raises will ensure that some workers’ wages are comparable to those of UCLA employees with the same job classification.
A radiology tech’s starting wage, for example, will jump from $33.56 an hour to $42.28 an hour to be in line with UCLA’s.
Workers at USC ambulatory clinics will see raises of 10.9% to 44% percent over the next three years, and call center employees will receive hourly pay hikes of 10.9% to 68%. This is the first labor contract for call center workers, who became unionized in March 2019.
In a statement issued Monday, Keck Medicine of USC said it was glad to provide workers with “excellent wages and benefits,” a move that demonstrates its longterm commitment to employees and patient care.
“We thank both bargaining teams for their hard work,” the statement said.
USC has also agreed to extend employer-paid health insurance to employees at call centers and ambulatory clinics. It will ensure that a three-month supply of personal protective masks and other gear is available, and it will resume fully funding its employee retirement contributions starting next year.
USC backed off a proposal that would have prohibited workers from exercising their right to hold protests while under contract, and it revoked a punitive attendance policy that put workers at risk of discipline when they took time off to care for sick family members.
Lastly, management has agreed to restore holiday pay it took from Norris hospital workers.
The union also applauded Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order that will require employers at all California medical facilities that provide direct patient care to verify the vaccination status of their workers.
Employers will have to ensure that unvaccinated staff members are provided with N95 masks and are tested for COVID-19 twice a week at in-patient facilities and once a week at clinics.