West Valley Hospital Workers To Begin Week-Long Strike Wednesday

ENCINO, CA — Nearly 2,000 healthcare workers are set to begin a week-long strike at four Los Angeles County hospitals beginning Wednesday, including at one hospital in the west San Fernando Valley.

The strikes at Prime St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Prime Centinela Medical Center in Inglewood, Prime Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center and Prime Encino Medical Center come amid contract negotiations between the hospitals' owner, Prime Healthcare facilities, and SEIU United Healthcare Workers West.

The union says it's fighting to address understaffing, turnover and patient care concerns.

"For months, Prime management has been intimidating and attempting to silence health care workers for raising concerns about patient care and short staffing at their hospitals," Dolores Aguilar, a unit secretary at the Lynwood hospital, said in a statement.

SEIU says Aguilar is one of four workers suspended from the Lynwood medical center days after participating in a protest over staffing and patient care conditions at Prime's Ontario headquarters.

In a statement, Prime said it is continuing to negotiate with the union.

"Proposals have been delivered to the union from the hospital that would increase wages and provide a valuable health care plan, maintain important benefits, and be competitive with other hospitals in the market," the statement reads. "It is disappointing that despite progress being made, the union has walked away from negotiations and has chosen to strike, but that will not impact our commitment to providing quality patient care to our communities throughout the holidays and always."

Picket lines at the four hospitals will run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Though the lines stop Friday, the strike extends through the Christmas holiday; workers will return to work Dec. 27, SEIU said.

Workers participating in the strike include emergency room technicians, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, radiology technicians medical assistants and respiratory technicians, according to the union.

The strike is the second recent work stoppage at Prime facilities in the region; it comes after a five-day strike staged by the same group of workers in October.

Prime Healthcare said the hospitals will remain open during the strike.

City News Service contributed to this report.