Physicians and dentists working at Los Angeles County-run hospitals, clinics and other county facilities have made plans to go on strike shortly after Christmas to protest what their union describes as inadequate benefits and dire vacancies.
The Union of American Physicians and Dentists said Wednesday that it had set a Dec. 27 date for a walkout after more than two years of negotiations had failed to address concerns among more than 1,100 doctors, dentists and other county employees who recently authorized a strike.
Chief among those concerns are the benefits offered to county physicians and other medical professionals, which the UAPD argued have failed to make the county an attractive healthcare employer.
For instance, the union said it has been especially difficult to recruit and retain female staff because of insufficient benefits for people recovering from childbirth. Doctors said they have had to work extra hours while pregnant to extend their maternity leaves.
The result of such deficiencies, the union said, has been alarming levels of vacancies for medical professionals in some county facilities. The UAPD said that in the county’s jails, the vacancy rate for psychiatrists has reached 70%.
Its negotiating team called on the county to engage in “intense mediation” to prevent a strike that “could have significant repercussions on medical services provided in the hospitals, jails, juvenile facilities, and beyond.”
The L.A. County Department of Health Services, which employs the bulk of the medical professionals who could participate in a walkout, did not immediately comment on the union announcement.
In a statement last month, the department said it was optimistic that bargaining between the county and the union would result in “a fair and amicable agreement that safeguards patient care, values healthcare workers and enhances physician recruitment and retention in County service.” It said the physicians and dentists “already have an extensive benefits package in place,” the same one as more than 35,000 other county workers.
The UAPD wants medical professionals to get the more extensive “Megaflex” plan that is available to some L.A. County employees. The union argued the upgrade would represent only a 0.04% hike in the county budget — roughly $20 million annually — but county officials have estimated it would cost at least $86.8 million a year, with the expense rising further with any negotiated increase in salaries.
The Department of Health Services “does not believe that expansion of benefits, including Megaflex, in a non-targeted manner is best for physician recruitment and retention nor do we believe it is in the interest of our patients and taxpayers,” its director, Dr. Christina Ghaly, argued in a report to county supervisors.
Ghaly also said the pricier benefits package would make it “prohibitive” for the county to consider “investments in wages and incentives by specialty, location and other hard-to-recruit roles for patient care.”
Other UAPD-represented employees who could go on strike include medical and veterinary professionals working at the Departments of Mental Health, Public Health and the Medical Examiner, among other county departments.
Doctors are slated to picket Thursday outside Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, a county-run hospital in Sylmar, in preparation for the possible strike. Union officials said they are already negotiating with the county over which employees will remain on the job during a walkout to maintain crucial services.
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