Hospice East Bay workers in Pleasant Hill begin weeklong strike over planned layoffs

Nearly 70 frontline healthcare professionals at Hospice East Bay in Pleasant Hill began a seven-day unfair labor practice strike on Monday morning. Represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the striking employees include hospice nurses, social workers, chaplains, and bereavement counselors protesting planned workforce reductions. Demonstrators established picket lines outside the organization's Buskirk Avenue headquarters, demanding that corporate parent Chapters Health System cancel impending layoffs and negotiate a fair first contract.

The labor confrontation carries severe consequences for roughly 1,200 East Bay families who rely on Hospice East Bay for specialized palliative care, pain management, and emotional grief counseling. Staff members on the picket line emphasized that hospice work requires deeply personal, trusting bonds built between patients, family caregivers, and clinical teams over weeks and months. Family members of former patients arrived throughout the day to support the striking workers, warning that corporate downsizing risks devastating the compassionate care that made the organization an East Bay institution.

Hospice East Bay was established in 1977 as a grassroots community nonprofit, delivering decades of trusted end-of-life care across Contra Costa and surrounding communities. The organization's governance changed dramatically in October 2025 following its acquisition by Chapters Health System, a large Florida-based healthcare network. Workers unionized with the National Union of Healthcare Workers in 2023 to protect staffing standards, but union officials accuse new corporate leadership of stalling contract negotiations, freezing wage steps, and committing unfair labor practices in violation of federal labor laws.

Union leaders point to a corporate directive that would eliminate 21 full-time positions on Friday, October 16, as the primary catalyst for the weeklong walkout. Striking employees noted that the planned restructuring would leave only two bereavement counselors to oversee grief support programs for more than a thousand individuals throughout Contra Costa County. While administration officials confirmed that contracted replacement teams are staffing clinical operations during the strike, inquiries regarding patient services are directed to (925) 887-5678.

Daily picketing will proceed outside the Pleasant Hill facility between 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM through the conclusion of the strike on Monday. Union representatives have urged Contra Costa County health officials and local municipal leaders to intervene and advocate for the preservation of vital community palliative services. As the October 16 layoff implementation deadline approaches, labor representatives reaffirmed their readiness to resume negotiations around the clock if corporate management agrees to protect frontline healthcare staffing.