AUBURN, Wash — Healthcare workers at 20 MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care facilities in the Puget Sound region will strike Nov. 23-24 over better work and safety conditions.
According to the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, members at the facilities have been seeking better conditions since July of 2018.
“For too long these providers have been subjected to irresponsible and unsafe policies including working 12-hour-plus shifts, sometimes seeing over 70 patients in one day without breaks. Not only has MultiCare put patients at risk through these assembly line conditions, but since the COVID-19 outbreak, MultiCare refuses to allow providers to wear N95 masks, even if they purchase our own,” Dr. Stuart Bussey, president of UAPD and former urgent care physician, said in a statement. “MultiCare again refused the providers N95s just before the strike announcement last night. These practices are not only exhausting for providers, but more importantly, they are extremely risky for our patients who deserve the best possible care. It is no exaggeration to state this is a matter of life and death.”
Workers threatened to strike after a recent COVID-19 outbreak at a facility in Auburn. MultiCare said eight patients and five staff members tested positive for the novel coronavirus. One patient died after the outbreak was detected.
“The recent outbreak of COVID-19 within MultiCare’s hospital system should have been a wake-up call, but it was not," said Dr. Bussey. "So, out of concern for patients, doctors will strike and we are calling upon the public to stand with healthcare providers who are working the frontlines of a pandemic.”
MultiCare reps in a previous statement to the union’s claims said all of their clinics, including urgent care ones, have “adequate” PPE and say they are completely confident their staff is safe, and there’s been no clinical evidence to the contrary.