UCSF CRCs Take on a Bad Boss—and Win

For the past year, the leadership of one of the studies in the Division of HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Medicine had been extremely hostile towards clinical research coordinators.

Despite a heavy workload for the team, management continued to invest in the expansion of the managerial team rather than investing in more CRCs. Moreover, the direct CRC supervisor had no knowledge of the workflow of the team, did not contribute to study enrollment or study visits, and overall seemed to have a superfluous role other than to micromanage the team’s work. 

The final straw for the team came when NIH funding cuts began to affect the team, and the management team opted to lay off the most senior team member rather than the manager.

In response to this situation, members of multiple teams across the Division of HIV, as well as Ward 86 Social Workers and wet lab workers, marched on their boss to push back, delivering a petition with overwhelming support and highlighting issues on the team. We demanded a labor management meeting to discuss the situation and that same day, a Labor and Employee Relations representative got in touch with us to schedule the meeting.

While the managerial team was reticent to work with us at first, over the course of several labor management meetings we managed to get the supervisor fired from the team, got management to initiate the process of securing raises and promotions for the team, and agree to amend the workflow of the team to reduce the burden on the team members.

That’s the power we have when we stand together.