UC Workers Hold Statewide Marches

Thousands of UC hospital and campus employees concerned about quality at UC launched a series of statewide marches on Thursday, May 20, 2004, to demand meetings with top UC officials.

Workers at each campus and their supporters confronted UC executives, demanding immediate action to protect quality and service at America's premier public university system and its academic medical centers from budget cuts and managements' misplaced priorities.

As part of the statewide action, workers and students at UC Santa Cruz marched from the Baytree Plaza to the steps of the McHenry Library. The march and rally demonstrated strong solidarity between workers throughout the UC system as well as between workers and students at UCSC.

Staffing shortages and high turnover rates in radiology and other hospital departments and the increasing use of temporary personnel in the medical centers threaten the quality of patient care at UC medical centers at UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UCI and UC Davis. On the campuses, inadequate staffing leads to decreased services for students and at times, to costly overtime pay.

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Crossposted at Santa Cruz Indymedia: Part I, Part II & Part III