Union member workers at UC San Diego’s Hospitals in La Jolla and Hillcrest began a two-day strike on Wednesday.
They joined the picket lines with approximately 37,000 other patient care and services workers for the UC Healthcare system across California.
AFSCME 3299 claims that contract negotiations with the UC system haven’t gotten anywhere over the last several months.
Mark Potter was one of the strikers and has been a member of AFSCME 3299 for the past eight years. Potter says he fixes exercise equipment and works in building maintenance for the La Jolla location.
Potter says he feels like the pay gap between him and the UC System is staring him right in the face.”We’re forgotten about,” Potter said. “We have new construction all over campus. The UC has a lot of money, but they just don’t want to give it to the essential workers …