Staff at Planned Parenthood clinics around the Central Coast voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike this week. The union, including medical assistants and physicians, claim that management has engaged in unfair labor practices during contract negotiations and refuses to address the “urgent short-staffing crisis.”
If the union chooses to move ahead with the strike, it would affect six Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) locations, including Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, which provide reproductive and sexual healthcare services on a sliding fee scale to support access to all patients, no matter their income.
Patients would struggle to access care during a strike, but workers argue that clinics are already experiencing longer wait times and other obstacles due to staffing shortages. Reproductive healthcare providers nationwide were also just cut off from Title X funding , removing $390,000 from PPCCC’s cash pool.