Workers at Sunrise Hospital & Medical in Las Vegas protested Dec. 2 as part of a union #WalkoutWednesday campaign, according to the union that represents them.
The Service Employees International Union Nevada Local 1107 said the protest at the HCA Healthcare-affiliated hospital is "in response to the untenable working conditions that have persisted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic."
"If you are going to call us heroes in public, then treat us like heroes in private. Give us sufficient PPE, hazard pay, and make sure that we have adequate testing, so we don't get our patients or our families sick," Erika Watanabe, a surgical tech, said in a news release.
"While all of us are here making a sacrifice, HCA CEOs are talking about the profit they're making because of the high degree of acuity in COVID-19 patients. They need to stop obsessing over profits and make sure hospital workers have everything they need to care for patients," Ms. Watanabe said.
SEIU Nevada Local 1107 spokesperson Edward Webster told Becker's protests will continue every Wednesday at least for the rest of December at HCA hospitals in the state. Workers will protest while on their break, at lunch, or after finishing a shift.
HCA Far West Division Communications Manager Antonio Castelan told Becker's it is unclear how many workers protested the morning of Dec. 2, because there was a mix of SEIU Nevada Local 1107 members who work at the hospital and union members who don't work there.
In a prepared statement, Todd Sklamberg, CEO of Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center and Sunrise Children's Hospital, defended Sunrise's COVID-19 practices.
The hospital has had easily accessible supplies on hand throughout the pandemic and has a PPE depot for distribution of supplies 24/7, his statement said. The hospital also has followed CDC requirements and guidelines regarding PPE inventories and CDC guidelines about testing employees and masks, according to his statement.
"At a time of a national nursing shortage during the most critical public health crisis the world is experiencing, it astounds us that the SEIU would attempt to use COVID-19 as a bargaining chip to the point of suggesting their members walk out," he said.
SEIU Nevada Local 1107 represents 19,000 healthcare and public sector workers in the state.