This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
Once more, Kaiser management is planning changes to our jobs while not asking for anyone’s feedback, which negatively impacts our work. For the last year, a threat has been looming on the horizon, and now it is finally taking shape: downsizing, centralization and cross-training of OPEIU Local 29 workers.
What’s behind all this fancy terminology? Possibly a nightmare in the making. Could it mean layoffs or not filling new positions for receptionists and other Local 29 workers? New departments being combined? One central check-in zone for all patients?
Over time and with experience, each Local 29 worker deeply learns about their department. This crucial knowledge is what allows us to best assist our patients as they ask questions about their procedures. But management, who can only think of how they can keep reducing staff to increase profits, believes they can just throw some superficial cross-department training at us, and suddenly we’ll be able to have deep knowledge about every procedure from any section of the hospital.
This is nuts! Not only does this show how disconnected management is from the ins and outs of how the hospital operates, but also, how dismissive they are of the intricacies of our work and our patients’ health!
Click here to read the article printed in the 01-15-25 Healthcare Newsletter
