For the next three days, all University of California medical workers had decided to observe the strike protesting outsourcing and seeking a hike in wages.
15,000 medical workers including radiology technicians, pharmacists started the strike on Tuesday at university’s three medical centers prompting rescheduling of appointments and surgeries.
According to ABC News, the workers gathered outside the medical centers, wearing green shirts, ringing bells and carrying placards demanding an end to outsourcing.
The strike was announced by AFSCME Local 3299, University of California’s largest employee union after various negotiations on collective bargaining, the rise in wages and lifting the retirement age among others failed with university officials.
“The University of California has continuously ignored workers’ concerns over the outsourcing of good middle-class jobs and the inequality and insecurity that it creates for the hardworking people that run UC every day,” said Monica De Leon, Vice President of AFSCME Local 3299’s Patient Care Technical Unit.
“By ignoring the well-founded concerns of its frontline workforce, UC is eroding the quality of service that we provide to the students, patients, and communities that depend on us.”
Meanwhile, the university has accused the union leaders of spreading false information and demanding “unrealistic and unreasonable” annual wage increase by 8 percent.