The workers said their wages have not kept pace with the cost of living in San Diego, impacting their quality of life and patient care. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer reports.
Health care workers picketed Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa Wednesday, pushing for a contract with higher wages and staffing levels as the employees and health care system have been bargaining for more than a year.
About 5,000 employees have voted to unionize at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Sharp HospiceCare, Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and the Sharp Metropolitan Medical Campus.
They want to negotiate as one, for one contract. Sharp said in a statement that workers at each facility filed for separate bargaining units and cannot be combined.
The workers said their wages have not kept pace with the cost of living in San Diego, impacting their quality of life and patient care.
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“I can’t afford to live in the city I work in,” said respiratory therapist Tony Napoli. Napoli said he lives in Corona and drives more than 100 miles to work each day.
“We're here to increase our wages so we can live in San Diego, so that we have safe staffing levels, so we can provide safe care for our patients and also for better retirement and benefits," Napoli said.
“Sharp doesn’t listen to the employees, won’t help the employees, our management team is not – we’re the front liners,” said Lorena Rodriguez, a phlebotomist who’s worked at Sharp Grossmont for more than 20 years.
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Rodriguez said some of her coworkers are couch surfing or living in their cars, and she’s had to sleep in the hospital’s parking garage herself before.
“As a patient, you don’t want to have us exhausted and those that sleep in the car know exhaustion,” she said.
In a statement on Wednesday’s protest, Sharp HealthCare said it supports employees’ right to organize and their freedom of speech. The health care provider said it’s “negotiating in good faith” and accused the union of extending negotiations, which began in June 2023.
Sharp said it has “historically provided across-the-board raises to staff” and pointed to its employee retention rate of 90% as one of the highest in the state.
