Union workers at three area hospitals plan to picket this Wednesday demanding better working conditions and alleging the facilities are understaffed. More than 3,000 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union plan to strike at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks and West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in West Hills. A protest is also planned at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside. All three hospitals are owned by Hospital Corporation of America, a Nashville-based operator of 182 medical facilities across the country. At 190,000 employees, HCA is the largest hospital chain in the U.S. The protests come as SEIU and HCA are in the midst of renegotiating a contract that expires late this month. SEIU charges that the HCA hospitals are poorly staffed, forcing employees to work overtime, because hiring levels are set at the company’s headquarters instead of locally.
