Thousands of people were to go down the streets of the County of San Diego Thursday for the demonstrations of May 1 to support workers’ rights and reprimand President Donald Trump’s online immigration policies.
Similar marches took place nationally with walkers filling the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in recognition of May 1, also known as the International Workers’ Day.
One of the biggest events in the San Diego region began Thursday morning in Hillcrest with a walk for Balboa Park, and crowds were also to meet in Chicano Park and Riveau Park later.
At the UC San Diego Hillcrest Medical Center, hundreds of employees of the UC San Diego health system – including specialists in technological support, pharmacists and patient ambassadors – met around 10 a.m. near the hospital entry to require better remuneration and working conditions during a day strike.
The members of the union of professional and technical employees and the American state, county and municipal employees held signs and gathered in front of the hospital entrance where patients and doctors have entered and left.
The demonstrators were taken to songs before the crowd begins their 1½ mile walking towards the Balboa park, joined by members of the local chapters of the union of food workers and the service of the services to the Union of the UNITED employees, representing those who work in everything, from health care to food services via retail.
The march temporarily hampered traffic along the street streets, the crowd extending over two blocks of the city, but no incident was reported to the San Diego police.
The nearly 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the park to listen to speeches praising organized work and calling for solidarity.
Randall Turner, who works in information technology at the UC San Diego East Campus Medical Center, said that he demonstrated against the hiring frost instituted by UC San Diego Health. It performs maintenance and provides support for computers and other technological equipment that doctors and other employees use to treat patients.
“We are already at a critical time with our staff where we have to travel in several places and do a lot of things, and that simply does not give enough support to all our sites at the same time,” said Turner.
Turner said that even if his main site is the location of the East campus, he also worked in Hillcrest and the Jolla “all to help because we do not have enough staff in these places”.
Lisa Tiller, an ambassador for patients at the Moore Cancer Center of the UC San Diego Health who helps patients with everything from patient accommodation, said that she had “felt the pressure” of the endowment levels.
“We are overworked, we are underpaid, we are in an under-effective,” she said.
In a statement, UC San Diego Health said he had plans in place to minimize the impact of patients during the day strike and that “the exceptional care of patients remains our absolute priority”.
“We will continue to monitor staff and resources to comply with our high standards for care and commitment to the community,” said the press release.
Others walked to protest against the Trump administration. Some wore panels that called for the dismissal of Trump, while others called for resistance.
Karyl Miller attended the demonstration dressed in an outfit of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, a dystopian novel that has become TV on a world in which women have become a property and carrying a panel that said “100 Daze” in reference to the first 100 days of the new Trump administration.
“We were not even going to come today because … it’s not practical,” she said. “But what do you know?” I was looking at the news, and no, we have to protest. We have to protest. “
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
