About 140 health care providers gathered in Berkeley on Tuesday to protest poor conditions and low pay at LifeLong Medical clinics. LifeLong clinics — which primarily serve the low-income and unhoused communities — employ more than 1000 people, and run 20 sites and programs throughout the Bay Area.
Providers have been in negotiation with LifeLong for more than a year over higher wages and improved conditions.
Tim Jenkins is a senior representative with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, the union that represents LifeLong providers.
“The people we’re taking care of...they’ve gone through tremendous trauma, they have mental and physical health needs, and you’re trying to see them in 15-minute increments because you’re getting paid $250 no matter what they need, Jenkins said. "We’d much rather be taking our members up to Sacramento than taking them out on a strike line in Berkeley.”
Jenkins is working to negotiate immediate solutions between LifeLong and their workers. But he emphasized that the real problem is with the state health care system.
Providers returned to work on Wednesday. The next mediation session between the union and LifeLong is July 5.
