Layoffs Delayed to June 30th!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. AHS workers have been showing up and speaking out against the cuts to services and layoffs planned throughout our healthcare system. We organized with each other, reached out to the public, and made our voices too loud to […]
AHS Publishes List of Proposed Closures
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. As required by state law, AHS executives published a list of the proposed closures and elimination of services they are planning in the ongoing layoffs. This 59-page document includes the elimination of outpatient behavioral health services, the closure […]
Beilenson Hearing: Wednesday February 25th at 2pm
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors finally announced the scheduling of the state-mandated Beilenson Hearing, after significant pressure from workers, the union, and the community. California state law requires that healthcare facilities provide detailed information to the public […]
Highland Closes Weekend Cafeteria Service
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. In yet another act of cruelty towards Highland Hospital workers and patients, Alameda Health System executives have decided to end weekend cafeteria service at the hospital. The recent layoffs have left hospital workers understaffed and overworked, coming in […]
ER Boarding at Crisis Levels
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The Highland emergency department, although usually overcrowded, has recently been dangerously over capacity. With the hospital fully impacted with patients, there is nowhere to admit people waiting in the ER. This leads to patients who have orders to […]
We Need the Union, And Then Some
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. For those of us lucky enough to be in a union, it plays an important role. But we can’t just rely on the union – we have to play an active role in struggles ourselves if we want […]
Is AHS Trying to Privatize Our Hospital?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The rapidity and carelessness of these layoffs has made many of us question if AHS has had ulterior motives with these sudden cuts. Given we have been denied rational explanations for why certain positions and services were targeted, […]
AHS Workers Stand Up To the Board
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Last week’s Board of Trustees meeting kicked off with over two hours of public comment about the recent layoffs, despite speakers being limited to one minute each. Speakers included AHS workers from across the healthcare system who stood […]
AHS is Breaking the Law
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. California state law requires that county healthcare facilities hold public hearings (known as Beilenson Hearings) before reducing or eliminating any services. The law requires that the board provide notice of all proposed reductions, how many community members will […]
Letter From an AHS Worker:
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. After 10 years of working for Alameda Health System, I was notified on January 6, 2026, that I would be laid off effective March 9th due to the so-called “big beautiful bill,” and this has had a devastating […]
Layoff Chaos
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The layoff notices sent out by AHS were a total disaster. Some workers received layoff notices which were rescinded the very next day. Some workers were laid off and told to stay home on administrative leave, then told […]
Workers Tell the Board: No Layoffs!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Last week, more than 70 people spoke at the Board of Trustees meeting, urging board members to halt the layoffs and stop cuts to important patient services. Hundreds gathered at Highland to show their support for the workers […]
The Only Solution is Solidarity!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. A hospital system relies on all types of workers to make it function – from therapists who ensure patients can safely swallow or move, to kitchen staff who cook and serve meals for patients and their families, to […]
So How Do We Organize?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The administration was trying to limit our ability to organize with our coworkers by doing this over the holidays, when workers are out of town or visiting family. They were planning on immediately taking away workers’ badge access […]
What Can We Expect From These Cuts?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Proposed cuts will target multiple departments of the hospital. But what do these cuts mean for the functioning of our healthcare system? Department managers have NO PLANS for how to adjust to these changes in staffing. Click here […]
Layoffs Brought to You By COT
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The team deciding on who to cut was made up of current AHS healthcare workers who know the system, right? Wrong! A furniture salesman, a realtor, and a nurse who hasn’t worked in 40 years. Makes $en$e! Layoff […]
Why not cut from the top?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The executives have banded together to lay off the workers who actually do the work in the hospitals and clinics across AHS. But what do these managers and executives do? They’re the ones taking home the fat paychecks […]
AHS: Follow the F’ing Law!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Is AHS delaying layoff announcements because what they have been trying to do is illegal? According to California’s Beilenson’s Act, county boards are required to hold public hearings before making major changes to healthcare services at county facilities. […]
Our Holiday Bonus This year: Anxiety
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. While layoff notices are being delayed from December 24th to January 6th, the dread of wondering if you’re still “on the list” now only has more time to fester. The damage has been done – announcing layoffs for […]
AHS – The Grinch Stealing Xmas
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Workers throughout Alameda Health System are understandably concerned about the upcoming layoffs, which couldn’t have come at a worse time right before the holidays. Families are waiting to make travel plans and buy gifts, knowing they might not […]
France: What Lies Behind the Surge in Social Unrest?
From a correspondent in France On Wednesday, September 10, and then again on Thursday, September 18, France experienced two days of major social unrest against the budget cuts announced for 2026. Between recurring political crises, worsening inequalities, and growing fears of being dragged into a “real” war, it is in fact a deeper anger that […]
France: Now what? We carry on!
September 22, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. The strike and demonstrations on September 18 added to the success of those on September 10, with over a million demonstrators and all kinds of actions (blockades, picket lines, general assemblies, etc.). What will happen next? Ministers come and go, […]
Trump’s Cuts Will Affect All of Us Everywhere
Since taking office in late January, Trump and his anti-worker bureaucrats have already begun to slash and burn many of the programs and resources that we need. Now that Congress has passed and Trump has signed into law what they called their “Big Beautiful Bill,” the larger cuts that we have all worried about are […]
Trump’s Cuts Will Impact Safety of Healthcare Workers
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Amidst the chaos and headlines surrounding the Trump administration, one devastating budget cut has quietly flown under the radar. As it stands, the Trump administration has proposed slashing the budget of the National Institute for Occupational […]
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Shows Whose Side He’s On…Again
The Republican crafted and Trump supported tax and budget bill passed by the House of Representatives and now going to the Senate for debate does many things. The bill keeps taxes low on the rich for years or decades to come and increases funding for the military and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Meanwhile […]
More Pain From Budget Cuts Will Hit Soon
As Trump has issued executive order after executive order and his billionaire bureaucrats have cut the federal workforce by tens of thousands, millions more are waiting anxiously for the pain to begin. While those who have lost their jobs are already feeling the emotional and financial stress of their loss, the rest of us know […]
France: Budget Cuts to Volunteer and Social Sectors: A Major Social Shock
April 14, 2025 article from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French As the [French] government announces a new “effort” of €40 to €50 billion ($45 to $56 billion) for the 2026 budget, let’s take a look back at the effects of the already massive cuts that have taken place over the […]
It’s Always the Workers Who Sacrifice
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Governor Newsom finally approved a new budget for California’s 2024-25 fiscal year last week. The original budget plan featured state funding for minimum wage increases for healthcare workers starting on July 1st. The wage increases are […]
32 States Cut Back Food Assistance
Food stamp programs are being slashed in 32 states. These cuts will affect 30 million people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), each losing about $92 per month. The states that will be most affected are California and Texas, which have 5.1 and 3.6 million people on SNAP. Some 18 states such […]
States Hoard $5.2 Billion in Assistance Meant for People in Need
An investigation by Propublica published in Dec. 2021 reported that over $5.2 billion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is being hoarded by some states and not being distributed to people in need. At the same time the states withheld these funds, childhood poverty went from 14.4% to 16.1% and from 9.4% to 10.4% […]
U.S. Unemployment Benefits to End – on Labor Day!
On Labor Day, the federal unemployment benefits that have been a lifeline for tens of millions during the COVID crisis, are ending, affecting over 10 million people.
State Budgets Under Attack
As New Jersey – like other states – sees billions in tax dollars disappear during the COVID-19 pandemic, we already hear talk of massive budget shortfalls! What does this mean? You guessed it