70 Hospice Workers in Pleasant Hill Strike Over Job Cuts

About 70 unionized healthcare workers at Hospice East Bay in Pleasant Hill walked off the job on Monday, initiating a weeklong unfair labor practice strike over proposed job terminations. Represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the striking staff includes certified hospice nurses, social workers, bereavement specialists, and spiritual counselors. The walkout represents a major escalation in stalled contract negotiations between the union and Chapters Health System, the Florida-based corporate operator that acquired the regional hospice last year.

The labor stoppage touches families throughout the Tri-Valley and central Contra Costa County who depend on specialized hospice teams to navigate complex end-of-life health crises and grief counseling. Striking employees gathered along Buskirk Avenue, carrying signs and speaking with community supporters about the heavy emotional and clinical toll of chronic understaffing. Family caregivers joined the picket lines to voice alarm over corporate plans to eliminate essential counseling staff, emphasizing that quality hospice care requires dedicated, unhurried time with grieving families.

Founded in the late 1970s, Hospice East Bay built an enduring regional reputation as a compassionate nonprofit healthcare organization serving diverse Bay Area communities. Frontline employees voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers in 2023, seeking transparent salary structures and enforceable caseload protections, but have yet to secure a ratified agreement. Following the organization's acquisition by Chapters Health System in October 2025, labor tensions intensified, culminating in formal unfair labor practice charges alleging bad-faith bargaining and unlawful changes to working conditions.

Management's announcement that 21 full-time positions will be eliminated on Friday, October 16, triggered the immediate authorization of the seven-day strike by union membership. Healthcare workers emphasized that reducing bereavement counseling staff to just two counselors serving over 1,200 regional patients and relatives would effectively destroy critical grief support services. Hospice executives stated that clinical patient operations continue uninterrupted through the deployment of temporary replacement personnel, with administrative inquiries routed to (925) 887-5678.

Informational picketing will continue daily from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM at 3470 Buskirk Avenue in Pleasant Hill until the strike concludes next Monday. Union leaders have called on local municipal councils and regional health commissions to examine the impact of out-of-state corporate acquisitions on local palliative care quality. As the October 16 job cut deadline approaches, healthcare workers stated they remain committed to returning to the bargaining table to secure a contract that protects both frontline staff and vulnerable patients.