UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital workers on strike over 'integration plan'

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital workers on strike over 'integration plan'

Healthcare workers who work at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland are striking on Wednesday over an "integration plan" they say will cost them money.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Healthcare workers who work at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland are striking on Wednesday over an "integration plan" they say will cost them money. 

"I have no choice but to be here," telecommunications operator Rosie Brooks said on the picket line outside the hospital. "They're taking away our benefits. I have to start over as a new employee. My 25-year tenure is going out the window."

Plus, she said, she fears there will be "diminishing care" for the patients. 

As it stands, nurses and technical workers are Children's Hospital employees.

But a new plan that would start in July would transition them to University of California employees.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents 1,300 workers at the hospital, said they don't want them. 

Healthcare workers who work at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland are striking on Wednesday over an "integration plan" they say will cost them money. June 18, 2025

The unions representing them argue that this transition forces them to pay more for benefits and union representation, so they would lose, on average, $10,000 a year in take-home pay.

USCF acquired Children's Hospital in Oakland.

But worker contracts still had them employed under Children's Hospital. 

UCSF argues the transition puts employees under a single system, allows them to join the same unions representing all UCSF workers in the state, and is a good decision in the long run.

UCSF acknowledged that some take-home pay may change because employees haven't had to pay anything toward their health insurance or retirement, but that will change when they become UC employees "just as their colleagues across the UCSF system do." 

In turn, UCSF said that employees "will gain access to a far more valuable pension and comprehensive, long-term benefits."

"Claims that employees are being fired and rehired are simply false," UCSF said in a statement. 

As a result of the strike, UCSF management said that a few of its outpatient offices will be closed or offer limited appointments, like Walnut Creek, Brentwood, San Ramon and Emeryville.

The main hospital in Oakland will stay open to see patients.