UCSF ED social workers win schedule changes, see 2024 contract negotiations as an opportunity to fix ongoing workplace issues

Social workers in the UCSF Parnassus Emergency Department (ED) do challenging work with vulnerable populations. They cover shifts seven days a week with close to 24/7 coverage. Their work can be dangerous—as a methamphetamine epidemic ravages San Francisco, people struggling with addiction who are often living on the street are brought to the ED on involuntary psychiatric holds or for jail clearance to be medicated and restrained.

"You really see what poverty and addiction look like firsthand. We care for some of San Francisco's most marginalized people with lots of trauma and untreated mental illness. There aren't enough psych beds for people, especially the uninsured or people with Medi-Cal," said Cecily Donegan, a Social Worker in the UCSF Parnassus ED. "We only have four secure rooms and sometimes have 10-15 people on a psych hold. Workplace violence is a real concern for us."

Cecily remembers Shawn Singh, a UCSF Case Manager and UPTE Unit Representative, stopping by the unit one day to ask how things were going. It was the first time she remembers someone really showing concern for her and her coworkers' issues. Because there's such a small number of people on her team, they had historically felt overlooked.

"I shared with Shawn everything we had been dealing with, and he was so helpful. He immediately got me in touch with our UPTE organizer, and we began putting a plan together to tackle these issues. It was a real breath of fresh air—in my ten years of working here, I had never really felt like we had much of a voice in our union," Cecily recalled thinking.

Together, Cecily and her coworkers wrote a list of demands covering their schedule, need for appropriate staffing, and their compensation concerns. They delivered the demands together to the head of their department, which resulted in a meeting and further discussion.

"Almost immediately, we won a schedule change that has been a tremendous benefit to our team. Management supported our demands for additional staffing, and we've begun to see more positions filled. We're talking about adding a new position to our job series that more adequately reflects our work and contributions. Our department head even took our compensation concerns to the UC Office of the President (UCOP). It's been so wonderful to see these changes on account of our advocacy as union members," said Cecily.

Although UCOP has thus far shut down conversations about compensation and additional stipends to account for night, weekend, and holiday work, Cecily feels energized about our upcoming UC-wide negotiations.

"It's clear that UPTE's unit and workplace representatives want to help members like us lead these kinds of important fights in our workplaces. I was so excited to see the 2024 Contract Platform introduced and have all of these great materials to share with my colleagues. I can see our concerns reflected in our union's priorities, and I can't wait to get involved and support this year's fight for a strong contract," shared Cecily. "Being able to channel my frustrations into productive efforts through our union has been really wonderful. If you want something to change, you need to get organized and demand it—and that's what being a member of our union is about."