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by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY<\/a><\/strong> May 15, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ucsfrally4-780x520.jpg\")
Twenty labor advocates who refused to leave a UC Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, protesting what they called a staffing crisis that\u2019s left patients vulnerable, were arrested by university police officers, a union representative said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UCSF healthcare workers had started picketing outside a UC Board of Regents meeting in Mission Bay in the morning, saying San Francisco\u2019s underserved populations \u2014 including refugees, the unhoused, and people struggling with mental illness \u2014 are most affected by understaffing and high turnover rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the close of public comment at the board meeting, a group of labor advocates refused to leave<\/a>. It is unclear where police took those who were arrested, and what charges they face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conditions are dire as it is, protesters said. Even when city services are available, people are left waiting up to 50 hours in the emergency department because there aren\u2019t enough healthcare providers to see them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s just horrific,\u201d said Cecily D., a social worker in the emergency department at UCSF\u2019s Parnassus Campus. \u201cThe dam is exploding and we\u2019re just trying to patch it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday, when her emergency department was at capacity, Cecily said 30 patients waited between nine and 15 hours. A physician, she added, emptied a urinal because there weren\u2019t enough nurses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n UCSF social workers, who said they are paid up to a third less than their hospital-based peers, were part of a crowd of over 100 UCSF researchers, doctors and technicians. Led by union organizers, they chanted as they circled the Mission Bay campus: \u201cUC, UC, you can\u2019t hide. We can see your greedy side.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The university says it is providing fair compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGiven the continued threats to federal funding, the University is grateful it has been able to provide its UPTE and AFSCME-represented employees with fair and reasonable wage and health-care offers,\u201d said Heather Hansen, a spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Hansen, the university\u2019s last offer met the unions\u2019 original wage request of $25 an hour and a five-percent wage increase. She added that while the University of California supports employees\u2019 free speech, protesters are expected to abide by \u201creasonable time, place and manner rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a union statement, the San Francisco Homelessness Oversight Commission has cited UCSF for noncompliance because of hiring and retention issues, and the city\u2019s healthcare network, Citywide, has received a performance letter about under-spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After a year of negotiation, organizers said, the goal of Thursday\u2019s rally was to bring the university back to the bargaining table, lift the hiring freeze, and hire more front-line workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When Cecily started a decade ago, sensitive conversations with patients were held behind closed doors. Now, after an influx of people in need over the last few years, she said they\u2019re held beside beds in the hallway. \u201cThere\u2019s no dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often, she added, emergency departments act as the city\u2019s \u201csafety net\u201d because, unlike shelters or treatment centers, they accept people in crisis 24\/7. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But long wait times can make the difference between someone with a substance-use disorder going into treatment<\/a> or going into withdrawal, Cecily said. They can cause someone on an involuntary psychiatric hold to be physically and chemically restrained in a hallway overnight, or even over the weekend, until a clinician can see them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPatients are committing suicide because they cannot wait on this waitlist that is so long we cannot keep it staffed appropriately,\u201d said Chey Dean, an Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s drug researcher and union organizer. \u201cAnd the university doesn\u2019t even care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several healthcare providers gave examples of how employee attrition had hindered their ability to provide quality service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout recently left a six-person team serving Black clients in a 400-patient network understaffed, said Robyn Miles, a clinical social worker of 13 years. UCSF\u2019s hiring freeze meant that they were unable to fill the gap with an intern who had been training with the team for the last year, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior physician assistant and union secretary Matt Stephen said his head and neck surgery team had lost two physicians, one assistant, two speech therapists, and three audiologists in the last month alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTurnover is unsustainable for a healthcare system,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cTreating it like a 1980s Toyota assembly line is not how you provide good care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom<\/strong> that works hard to bring you news you can’t get elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n abigail@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Abigail covers criminal justice, accountability, and behavioral health. She’s originally from New York City, where she was a youth advocate and watched hundreds of arraignments. Now, she enjoys foggy San Francisco mornings with her cat, Sally Carrera. (Yes, the shelter did in fact name the cat after the Porsche from the animated movie Cars.)More by Abigail V\u00e2n Neely<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hiring freeze has led to \u2018horrific\u2019 conditions, workers say by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY May 15, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Twenty labor advocates who refused to leave a UC Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, protesting what they called a staffing crisis that\u2019s left patients vulnerable, were arrested by university police officers, a union… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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