LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Nearly 700 caregivers at Keck Medical Center of USC in Lincoln Heights launched a 24-hour strike today to protest conditions that “compromise patient care” and plans to impose a one-year wage freeze, but management said it would be able to run the facility without them.
The job action at the former USC University Hospital began at 6 a.m., when the strikers, many in scrubs or lab coats, started marching with picket signs. National Union of Healthcare spokesman Leighton Woodhouse said the picketing is scheduled to end at 6 p.m.