Roughly 1,300 healthcare workers began an indefinite strike Wednesday against the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital, opposing an effort by UCSF to unilaterally strip workers of benefits and rights. Striking nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, housekeepers, clerical workers and medical technicians turned out in the hundreds, joined by substantial contingents of nurses, engineers and healthcare workers, halting non-emergency services at its five locations.

The immediate impetus for the strike, supported by a 70 percent strike vote within the National Union of Healthcare Workers membership, is the university’s so-called “Integration Plan,” which would unilaterally fire all unionized workers and rehire them as University of California employees.

Although University of California claims workers would retain current pay levels, substantial increases in healthcare costs and other benefit cuts would cut take-home pay for workers by as much as $10,000. In addition, dozens of unionized workers would be converted to non-union “at will” employees. 

The strike reflects the growing militancy of the working class, also evident in last Saturday’s multi-million-strong No Kings demonstrations against the Trump administration. At demonstrations across the country, World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) reporting teams encountered widespread support for a general strike.

On the first and second days of the UCSF strike World Socialist Web Site, reporting teams visited the picket line, distributing a statement advancing a fighting rank-and-file strategy to capitalize on this widespread fighting sentiment and build toward a general strike. The teams also campaigned in defense of UCSF professor Dr. Rupa Marya, who was victimized in March for speaking out against the genocide.

The statement also warned against the danger posed by leaving this strike in the hands of the NUHW bureaucracy, which has a long record of collaborating with management, including through the Kaiser Labor-Management Partnership. The NUHW also has close ties with the same Democratic Party that runs UC.

This is most clearly illustrated by their recent lawsuit attempting to compel UCSF to agree to binding arbitration to settle the current contract dispute. In plain language, this means “demanding” a government-imposed contract.

The NUHW refuses to distribute strike pay to striking workers. Federal LM-2 filings record the union took in nearly $17 million in income in 2024 and paid $2 million in political activities and lobbying, primarily to Democrat-aligned entities. Notably, the NUHW paid out $0 in strike benefits in 2024, even though 2,400 southern California Kaiser mental health workers struck for 196 days beginning in October of 2024. 

On both days, WSWS reporters were warmly received by rank-and-file workers, dozens of whom took both leaflets. Striking healthcare workers, as well as engineers and other workers picketing in solidarity, responded enthusiastically to the call for a united struggle of workers through a general strike.

There was an understanding among workers with whom the WSWS spoke that Trump’s planned cuts to healthcare, especially the Republican plan to remove 16 million people from Medicaid, would have devastating impacts and must be firmly opposed. Healthcare workers were especially enthusiastic about the question of defending Prof. Marya. Many workers were already aware of her situation, and some had in fact been following her music for years.

On both days, the NUHW bureaucracy expelled WSWS reporters from the picket line. On Wednesday, in response to the WSWS criticism, a union bureaucrat demanded that reporters leave. He later asked hospital security to force the team to leave, which they were not able to do as WSWS reporters were on public property.

On Thursday, within ten minutes of the reporters’ arrival, an NUHW official initiated the following confrontation. She first asked that the team leave and no longer talk with workers. 

The NUHW official then sought to cast the WSWS reporting team as a threatening presence that was making strikers uncomfortable. She told a WSWS reporter wearing an N95 mask and sun protection on this sunny day, “You look like ICE. I can’t see your face.” 

After several minutes, a group of four additional NUHW bureaucrats approached the WSWS reporting team.

When the WSWS left, they were followed for half a block by an NUHW bureaucrat who gave the following warning to the team: “I’m asking you peacefully not to come back. We are protesting peacefully.”

The root of the NUHW bureaucracy’s response to the presence of the WSWS is a recognition of the bankruptcy of their own perspective, firmly rooted in an orientation to the same Democratic Party to which they donated $2 million last year.

The University of California is run by the Democratic Party. All UC regents were reappointed by Democratic California governors. This includes the Regents of the University of California, UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, who raked in $1.2 million last year and UCSF Medical Center CEO Suresh Gunasekaran, whose total pay and benefits added up to $2.19 million two years ago.

Contrast this with the current salary of $82,118 for an Administrative Assistant with five years employment or $107,494 for an Operating Room Tech.

Dr. Marya’s case vividly illustrates the deep connections between the Democrats, University of California and the billionaires they both serve. She was publicly targeted by California State Senator Scott Wiener, in close coordination with UCSF management, for opposing the genocide in Gaza on social media, and was doxxed by the Canary Mission.

As she uncovered in her subsequent lawsuit against UC, Wiener, UCSF and Canary Mission are all financed by the pro-Zionist billionaire-backed Helen Diller Foundation.

In statement supporting the struggle of healthcare workers, Dr. Marya wrote to the WSWS:

When healthcare workers strike to improve their conditions, they are striking to improve health for all people. Only when they receive the dignity and care they need to do their jobs well can they provide us all with excellent healthcare. We must push back against the greedy billionaires and corporate structures that leave our workers desperate and our patients lacking the basic medical care they deserve. I thank the workers on strike for their sacrifice and their principled stance. I support your strike and urge all healthcare workers to stand together. Solidarity is our superpower to transform this healthcare system into one that truly serves all.

The union has labelled the Integration Plan as “Trumpian,” but it is the creation of UCSF management, acting on behalf of the Democratic Party, demonstrating that both parties are hostile to the working class.

The NUHW bureaucracy’s thuggish response to the presence of the WSWS is a warning to workers that it is preparing a sellout. It highlights the need for rank-and-file Children’s Hospital workers to organize independently and take the struggle into their own hands.

There is enormous support within the working class for a broad fight in defense of healthcare and in defense of immigrants and public education. The logic of such a struggle is a general strike, which is the only tool that can stop the current bipartisan drive to dictatorship and world war.

Such a fight cannot be waged within the pro-Democratic Party straitjacket of the trade union bureaucracies. We call on all workers who agree with this perspective to contact the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees and the World Socialist Web Site today.