San Andreas, CA…Dozens of healthcare workers are expected to protest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22 at Mark Twain Medical Center, 768 Mountain Ranch Rd. in San Andreas, over concerns that the interests of patients and the community will be ignored after the hospital’s owner – Dignity Health – merges into a $28 billion corporation.

“Patients, workers and the community need to be reassured that this new corporation is going to look out for them in the future,” said David Lay, an employee at Mark Twain Medical Center. “It’s all too common for a mega-corporation to squeeze employees and harm patients in the process rather than invest in both of them.”

The Mark Twain Medical Center protest is one of 27 being held across California by caregivers between Feb. 20 and March 7 at facilities owned by Dignity Health. In December 2017, the company announced plans to merge with Catholic Health Initiatives, giving it a combined $28 billion in annual operations.

Workers want to secure a strong contract with Dignity Health before the merger is finalized because of Catholic Health Initiatives’ history of undermining workers and patient care. In the year ending June 30, 2017, Catholic Health Initiatives eliminated nearly 3,000 full-time jobs at its hospitals across the United States.

The new corporation would be the second largest non-profit hospital system in the United States, with operations in 28 states, including its national headquarters in Chicago.

Nearly 15,000 Dignity Health employees statewide are members of SEIU-UHW, including 257 at Mark Twain Medical Center. Their contract expires April 1, 2018.