Staff and union representatives at Children’s Hospital Oakland told the University of California Investment Committee on May 13 that a planned integration with the University of California, San Francisco would cancel their contracts, reduce take-home pay and threaten patient access.

The complaints came during public comment, where Fran Meriwether, a social worker at Children’s Hospital Oakland, said, “This integration promises a pay cut to dedicated and committed employees, many of whom will suffer greatly because of the higher health care and retirement course.”

The comments matter because the speakers said the proposed affiliation would change employee terms of employment while ownership, licensing and funding would remain the same. That, they said, would transfer Children's Hospital Oakland employees onto UCSF payroll and benefits, which speakers asserted would produce lower net pay and remove representation by their chosen union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

Multiple employees detailed how the change would affect households and patient care. Stephanie Lamho said the plan “would cancel my union contract, force me and my 1,300 coworkers out of our union, and leave us with significantly less take home pay as direct UCSF employees.” Peggy Buscher, a retired social worker and former NUHW steward, said UCSF has “informed our employees that they will no longer be represented by NUHW and that they will have the same base pay, but will have to shoulder the cost of the medical benefits as well as their pension contributions, which results in an average loss of take home pay of 7,000 per year.” Mario Lopez said the change could reduce his monthly pay by “approximately $600” and described wider impacts on commuting and living costs.

Speakers described operational and service risks tied to staff turnover and reduced morale. Griselda Chavez, an infant development specialist, said the integration “will negatively affect them by them losing beloved staff and personnel” and warned that specialty services could be centralized in San Francisco, reducing access for Oakland and East Bay families. Carla Sagramoso, a clinical psychologist and union steward, told regents she viewed the proposal as a unilateral attempt to override existing bargaining relationships and called the move “duplicitous.”

Speakers said grievances and legal filings have been initiated. Buscher said UCSF “has refused to bargain contracts with the 2 bargaining units whose contracts have expired” and that mediation requests have been denied; she described those actions as the subject of filed grievances. Commenters repeatedly urged the regents and staff to oppose the integration or to require UCSF to bargain with the existing unions before any changes affecting employees take effect.

The Investment Committee hearing did not include a vote or formal action on the Children's Hospital–UCSF integration. Committee members received the public comments; no staff report or committee motion on the affiliation occurred during the meeting.

Speakers and advocates said they will continue to press the issue with the university through filings and public comment.