Workers Picket UCSD Medical Center Claiming Biases

Employees of UC San Diego Medical Center, mostly African-American women, picketed the teaching hospital Friday afternoon to protest what they say is discrimination in promotions and working conditions for minority employees.

The picket, arranged by the employees’ union, was timed to greet accreditation inspectors who visited the hospital’s expansion wing Friday. The union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents service, patient care and clerical workers at the Medical Center.

About 50 picketers said hospital officials virtually ignore minority employees’ complaints and harass anyone who speaks up.

In response, hospital officials this week formed a 15-member committee to investigate the discrimination allegations, said Delia Talamantez, director of staff affirmative action at UCSD.

Picketers said workers’ discontent has steadily increased over the last 10 years as job duties were combined at lower pay scales and the grievance procedures changed.

A Medical Center supervisor who asked not to be named echoed picketers’ concerns, saying that complaints of some white employees have received more attention than those of nonwhite employees. Instructions and complaints are often perceived as rude or aggressive when coming from African Americans while the same from whites are considered direct and assertive, the supervisor said.

Picketers said minority employees have been discriminated against when it comes to break times, taking days off, and requests for work changes. When an African American complains about unfair treatment, supervisors are often slow to resolve it, picketers say.

Talamantez said all employees have recourse through formal complaint processes.

“If you don’t push (the supervisors) to do something, they just let it ride,” said Betty Robinson, a 25-year Medical Center employee and union leader. If an employee brings up a complaint in the first place, she said, they fear a note in their file.

“They create things in people’s files to keep them from moving,” she said.

“If you voice your opinion too many times at UCSD, you are labeled a problem. You are argumentative and have an attitude,” said another picketer, Gwen Granthan.

Picketers also asserted minorities are passed up for promotion.

However, hospital officials said there is 6-year-old minority promotion program that has successfully increased the number of minority people in management positions.

An employee mediation program is also in the works, said Tom Leet, manager of campus personnel services, and by next year plans to council employees with disagreements.

The program was developed because of an increasingly ethnically diverse work site and aims to bridge cultural misunderstandings through communication.