LAKEPORT, Calif. — The union representing health care workers at eight Sutter hospitals and medical centers across California, including Lakeport, said protests are planned this week.

The pickets, at sites including Sutter Lakeside Hospital on Hill Road East in Lakeport, are scheduled for Tuesday, according to SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West.

In addition to Sutter Lakeside, facilities where protests will take place are Sutter Health facilities in Antioch, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Oakland, Roseville, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Vallejo.

The frontline healthcare workers are holding a series of protests to demand solutions to chronic short staffing, shuttering of services in underserved areas and wages that don’t keep up with inflation. 

Those workers include nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, licensed vocational nurses, environmental services, cooks, technicians and more, the union said.

The union said years of low wages have led to high turnover rates. The resulting understaffing has forced employees to take on multiple roles, work long hours and is creating burnout amongst caregivers who are stretched thin. 

At the same time, the union said Sutter Health has closed departments in facilities in lower-income areas such as San Francisco’s Mission Bernal campus, and is vowing to replace the aging Alta Bates Ashby campus with a smaller facility in Emeryville, resulting in a loss of services in the communities that need them the most. 

Meanwhile, Sutter is paying their corporate executives millions of dollars a year, including Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas, who took home over $11 million in 2023.

The union said caregivers are calling on Sutter Health to invest in its healthcare staff by ensuring safe staffing levels, fair wages and affordable health care. 

The last time a strike or picket took place at Sutter Lakeside was in April 2022, when California Nurses Association members held a one-day strike.