Strike Update: Andy Ortiz, Chief Human Resources Officer
Q&A With Senior Vice President Shows Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Remaining Open and Fully Operational
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is open, fully staffed and operational during a strike by SEIU-UHW members. Andy Ortiz, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Chief Human Resources Officer explains the issues.
Newsroom: How is everything going at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center?
Ortiz: I'm happy to report that things are going very well. We are open for business and fully operational providing uninterrupted service to our patients.
Newsroom: Is Cedars-Sinai Medical Center having to postpone surgeries or clinic appointments?
Ortiz: We are not postponing any surgeries or canceling patients. So we are fully open with the supplemental staff that we have hired very qualified and trained supplemental staff are here providing care for those in place of those employees that have decided to strike.
Newsroom: After two and a half years of working through the pandemic, don’t these workers deserve more money?
Ortiz: They do deserve more money, which is why we have offered 16% increase over a three year period, which coincides with market leading pay practices. The other thing that's important to know is that we're really disappointed with the union. We have a very long relationship with them. For the last 35 years, we have achieved agreement on on 11 different agreements. And what we know this time is before we even provided a full offer on the table. The union was taught they were threatening strike. So we knew that that was a sign that they were set to strike before we could even come to agreement.