Dozens of doctors, nurses, therapists and other LifeLong healthcare workers staged a one-day strike Monday, gathering for picketing and a rally at Richmond’s William Jenkins Medical Center to protest what they say are unsustainable working conditions.
Wielding signs scribbled with phrases such as “Living Wage Now!,” “Our patients deserve better” and “Community health not executive wealth,” they marched around the Harbour Way facility chanting “Si, se puede!” — “Yes, we can” — a phrase popularized by farmworker labor organizer Dolores Huerta, as passing cars honked in support.
The strike by the Union of American Physicians and Dentists was announced Friday after LifeLong employees and managers were unable to come to an agreement over pay and working conditions.
A LifeLong representative told Richmondside Friday that management offered employees a 6.38% wage increase over three years as well as bonuses and other benefits. The union was seeking a “double-digit” raise.
Patients at the William Jenkins clinic appeared to be able to access care and did not report significant scheduling issues. This is because many of the primary care physicians are residents (physicians in training) who were not on strike.
“Usually, we are the ones precepting those residents, like supervising and signing off on the things that they do,” Dr. Julia Marino told Richmondside. “They have some temporary people or people who are administrators, so not in the union, who are covering the residents. In that way, it has not been as disruptive here. But at other clinics, I think more so because they don’t have a bunch of residents who are seeing the patients.”
Richmond resident Shayla Barillas was there for an 11 a.m. appointment with her primary care physician and said she had no problem with scheduling. She was surprised to see the rally in progress when she arrived.
“I was surprised to see the wages and like, ‘No, you cannot live like that,’ ” Barillas said. “Of course I think they should be paid more fairly.”
Richmond resident Wayne Winrow has been a patient at the LifeLong clinic for a few years and said he has been seen by a different doctor at each visit. He was unaware of the issues LifeLong workers are facing.
“I didn’t know they were having that sort of problem,” Winrow said. “That’s too bad.”
Marino and Dr. Sara Woolf, a Berkeley family physician, members of the UAPD bargaining team, said in addition to concerns about low wages they’re concerned about their workload.
“A lot of our colleagues are living paycheck to paycheck,” Marino said. “The reason we unionized in the first place is because we had an 11% attrition rate.”
The union has been at the bargaining table with LifeLong since December of last year. In 2023, when employees first unionized, they were unable to negotiate improvements in their contract with the medical nonprofit until they went on a one-day strike. This time around, according to Marino, LifeLong seems unwilling to meet their demands.
“We have even said to them at the bargaining table, is this the best you can afford? And they refuse to answer that because they don’t want to show us their financials,” Marino said. “So we said, ‘Well, if this is the best you’re offering, then at least consider one of our many workload-related proposals. And they also are unwilling to budge on those.”
According to Dr. Adrienne Khanolkar, inadequate staffing is one of the primary problems across the organization. But despite its issues, the health care professionals on strike want to stay.
“All of us are highly employable people,” Marino said. “Primary care physicians are in high demand. But we love LifeLong. We don’t want to leave. We have incredible colleagues and we’re loyal to our patients. We want to make it better.”
LifeLong released a press statement Monday that states, “We take provider concerns about workload seriously, and several provisions already agreed to for the new CBA directly address workload and support for providers. LifeLong has offered across the board wage increases and additional compensation benefits. We are disappointed that we have not been able to reach an agreement and that patients will be impacted by the strike on Monday. Our providers are valued colleagues and an important part of LifeLong and the care we provide. We remain committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement.”
The healthcare provider has also said it is facing “significant uncertainty in the health care landscape and must protect patient access, support our broader workforce, and ensure we can continue serving our communities for the long term.”
With fewer patients covered by MediCal due to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, LifeLong is expecting significantly less reimbursement this year.
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“We love you, we thank you. Stay strong.”
— Richmond City Council member Sue Wilson
According to Khanolkar, a family medicine doctor at LifeLong’s East Oakland Health Center, negotiations with LifeLong this time around have been challenging.
“They have not been responsive or transparent. There’s been a lot of subterfuge,” she said. “There’s been a lot of misdirection, manipulation, gaslighting.”
Khanolkar said that the contract negotiated between the union and the nonprofit in 2023 did not address everything employees hoped it would. Rather than working with the union to improve the initial terms, LifeLong is attempting to undo many of the protections won, she said.
“It was really regressive bargaining. So we pushed back on those things… they told us that they are essentially not really considering other proposals. We hope that is not correct but it’s not a positive direction for things.”
If LifeLong does not make concessions, union members say they will continue to strike. For health care workers already living paycheck to paycheck, this will not be an easy undertaking.
“Even one day [on strike] is hard for some people living in the Bay Area,” Woolf said.
“We’re working on figuring out mutual aid support and crowdfunding to help support those providers on a prolonged strike,” said Marino.
Around noon, workers gathered in front of William Jenkins to hear speeches from UAPD president, Walnut Creek Dr. Stuart Bussey, Richmond city council members Sue Wilson and Claudia Jimenez, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez and his chief of staff, BK White, a former union negotiator for United Steelworkers (USW) Local 5 at Chevron.
“Here I am, four years later, and we still got the same problem,” Bussey told the crowd. “Everybody doesn’t realize how important you are in the community. How important you are to your patients. And they won’t even give you the cost of living.”
Wilson offered words of support to the striking workers.
“I’m here to really reinforce in Dr. Bussey and others that you have to take a stand today, because if you don’t take a stand, the conditions are gonna get worse, not just for providers, but for patients,” she said. “We love you, we thank you. Stay strong, and I know you’re gonna get what you need to settle this contract.”
It’s unknown when the next bargaining session will take place. The union expects to have more information on Tuesday.
LifeLong said patients with appointments should arrive as scheduled unless they hear directly from the healthcare provider that something has changed. Patients can call 510-981-4100 for more information.
This story was updated to correct a description of one of the strike signs.
