Healthcare workers at UCD are on the move, as nuclear med tech workers secure raises ranging from 6-21% and rehabilitation workers march on their boss
Members at UC Davis Health have been busy! Nuclear Medicine Technologists recently won equity increases ranging between 6% and 21% and now, workers in the rehabilitation department are standing up for themselves, too.
Nuclear med techs perform a range of imaging and theranostic services to diagnose and treat illnesses such as different types of cancer. They often hold a range of licenses although the job series historically has not recognized that fact, resulting in discouragement and turnover. In June of 2022, these members met with UPTE representatives to finalize and submit their research to management to make the case for an equity adjustment to wages. After convincing local UCD leadership to voice their support to representatives from UCOP and Employee & Labor Relations (ELR), they got word that the requested changes will be implemented next month.
"Being able to convince local leadership to support us with ELR and UCOP was helpful. We reworked the job series to make sure that the Sr. Nuclear Med Tech title would be used to recognize people who have gone above and beyond to obtain different licenses, while ensuring that everyone received a minimum 6% pay increase ranging up to 21% based on the licenses they currently hold. People really feel like they have been heard and the fact that they acknowledged that we have been short-staffed for some time helps us all feel valued," said Heather Hunt, a Nuclear Medicine Technologist at UC Davis Health. "One of our techs works full-time here but also has had to pick up a day at another facility just to make ends meet, and now he can drop that second job to focus on his work here. This is a huge victory that will let us prioritize being the best advocates and providers we can be for our patients."
We sometimes will have supportive immediate supervisors or managers, but that often won't be the case, requiring us to take more militant action. Rehabilitation workers at UCD learned this first hand. After months of pushing management to address burnout and turnover, they decided to march on their hospital's Assistant Chief Operating Officer to demand better.
A few years ago, management changed the rehab schedules so that everyone worked more weekend shifts—yet the weekend differential hadn't increased from $1 in decades. As a result, members watched talented coworkers leave for other local jobs due to low pay and increased weekend requirements, despite management's insistence that their pay was competitive. Regardless of staff's research into comparable market pay, management refused to budge.
"We had a few meetings amongst ourselves as staff and people were really fired up and ready to mobilize when they heard about what others across the UC system were doing. We tried going through all the 'proper channels' but had no luck, so we decided to go for it and march on our boss," said Anastasia Vourakis, a Physical Therapist at UC Davis. "We were inspired by the way our colleagues at UC San Diego and UC San Francisco got organized and fought back against unfair situations. Now, the senior leadership has committed to sit down with us to talk through our issues and to support our efforts to fix them."
Anastasia says that shortly after they confronted management, labor relations called and threatened to write people up, but her and her colleagues weren't afraid. "We knew everything we did was well within our rights, and we won't be intimidated or scared. I have never worked anywhere that had a union before, so knowing that we have solid membership numbers and that we are here to support each other gave me the confidence I needed to stand up for our department. I encourage other UPTE members to do the same—have faith, because together we have strength."