SEIU-UHW Dialysis Workers Picket

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:        Contact: Renée Saldaña, (213) 479-5137

July 31, 2023 rsaldana@seiu-uhw.org

Dialysis Caregivers to Picket Fresenius Kidney Care, Satellite Healthcare Over Understaffing, Low-Wages, Patient Care Crisis

OAKLAND, Calif. –   Fresenius and Satellite Healthcare dialysis caregivers across California are the latest round of healthcare workers to join statewide protests over the short-staffing crisis in the state’s healthcare system. Protests will be held at 21 locations on August 9 and 10.

“We are severely understaffed and stretched so thin. We used to have a one to three patient ratio, but over the years it’s become one to eight, and if someone calls out sick it becomes one to twelve. It happens a lot,” says Jose Manuel Gonzalez, a certified hemodialysis technician preceptor III at Fresenius Kidney Care for over 25 years. “We have to rush, to work as fast as we can, and the quality of service really suffers. I’m considering…