Central Coast Planned Parenthood Employees Vote Unanimously to Authorize a Strike

Employees of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) unanimously voted to authorize a strike due claims of alleged unfair labor practices and under-staffing.

According to a press release issued on Monday, frontline healthcare workers at PPCCC claim the vote follows months of failed negotiations and continued bad-faith bargaining by Planned Parenthood management.

The statement was posted by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), a healthcare justice union of more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients, and healthcare activists that Planned Parenthood employees joined last year after formally unionizing.

“We work here because we care deeply about our patients and our community. But there’s only so much we can do when we’re constantly understaffed and management refuses to bargain in good faith, ” said Mike Solemar, a physician at PPCCC. “Patients are waiting longer, and sometimes not getting seen at all. We believe in our mission to provide quality reproductive care for anyone who walks through our doors. Enough is enough. We need management to stop the unfair labor practices and listen to the frontline healthcare workers.”

Employees claim turnover has reached crisis levels as experienced caregivers leave for for higher-paying, more sustainable jobs causing the remaining workforce to be stretched thin, putting patient care at risk.

Additionally, the employees claim PPCCC management has ignored their calls to bargain in good faith, forcing them to authorize a strike.

The strike would include a range of essential health center staff at six clinics across the Central Coast, including medical assistants, health educators, clinicians, and support staff.

PPCCC clinics are located in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, and Thousand Oaks.

PPCCC President and CEO Jenna Tosh stated that since the beginning of the collective bargaining process, management participated in fourteen bargaining sessions with the union in good faith with the goal of focusing on the needs of patients and staff, while protecting the clinic’s long-term sustainability.

“We have reached tentative agreements on 15 items, with just a few outstanding items remaining that we have been actively working to reach an agreement on,” Tosh stated. “It’s because of this continued progress and partnership that we were surprised to learn through social media that SEIU-UHW had decided to conduct a strike vote rather than allowing this productive process to continue.”

Tosh went on to stated that PPCC has not received an Unfair Labor Practice charge and the union has not contacted management directly, nor have they received a formal, written 10-day strike notice, which is required before a health care strike can occur.

“We understand SEIU-UHW has an obligation to deliver for its members and that this can sometimes lead to divisive and retaliatory tactics. We also support the right of our employees to engage in a strike. But the reality is, discussions never stalled, and PPCCC has responded to all proposals with thoughtful, reasonable counter proposals that reflect our commitment to our staff and the good faith bargaining process. Our hope is that we can continue to work together to reach agreement on the outstanding contract provisions – as we have done over the past nine months,” Tosh stated.

A date for the strike has not been set.