Recently many University of California facilities have ramped up their use of outside contractors to perform work normally done by career UC employees, according to a blog on the Sacramento Bee website by Kathryn Lybarger, president of AFSCME Local 3299.
At UC Davis Medical Center and UC San Francisco, UC spent nearly $4 million on just two outside contracts for custodial work since 2011. The owners of the two contractors pay nearly 100 employees as little as $10.74 to $15 an hour with no benefits and no voice on the job, according to Lybarger.
"Had the UC system simply brought these subcontracted employees in-house and provided them with the same living wages and secure benefits as other UC workers, it would have saved almost $1 million," she said.
Many UC medical facilities are understaffed, leading to safety deficiencies that have led to millions of dollars in government fines and contributed to a 20 percent spike in injury rates among UC service workers since 2009, according to the blog.
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