UPDATED: Working Conditions at College Hospital in Cerritos Targeted by SEIU

UPDATED AT 2:30 p.m. on Thursday

By Brian Hews

It appears that College Hospital in Cerritos may be the target of a protest by members of the Service Employees International Union, and that several labor activists may attend a city council meeting on Thursday night to voice their concerns about current working conditions at the thirty year old treatment center.

Hews Media Group-Community News was sent emails from high ranking officials inside the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration on Wednesday outlining the concerns of the SEIU.

“SEIU leaders and employees are objecting to working conditions…. I was just informed that College Hospital Cerritos has been targeted by SEIU for protests,” an email given to the newspaper claimed.

“They basically want free healthcare for employees and family members as well as sizable raises,” the source told HMG-CN.

SEIU leaders are reportedly going to attend the Cerritos City Council meeting to talk about escapes from the facility as well as patient abuse of employees and the bad working conditions.

HMG-CN has also been told that SEIU officials plan to tell Cerritos City Council members about “patients who are sexually involved with one another.”

College Hospital is an acute psychiatric hospital with locations in both Cerritos and Costa Mesa and has been open since 1973. The hospital offers specialized care for geriatric, adolescent and pediatric mental health issues.

The meeting at Cerritos City Hall is slated to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the corner of 183rd Street and Bloomfield Avenue.

UPDATE:

“This is a violent workplace that is out of control, and management is being irresponsible.” said Sean Wherley, Communications Specialist form the United Health Workers

Wherley said in a phone interview with Hews Media Group-Community News on Thursday that his union is targeting the Cerritos City Council to voice their concerns can get “maximum public exposure.”  He said that union members will be voicing their concerns during the “Public Comment” section of the meeting.

Wherley said union members are asking for a $2 per hour raise for the first year in their list of demands for starters, and other considerations.