Workers at the only laboratory in California authorised to confirm high-risk bird flu cases are set to go on strike next week, citing years of understaffing, inadequate training, and burnout as factors that have hindered their ability to protect the state’s food supply from the rampant virus. Amid a statewide outbreak that has resulted in the deaths of 23 million birds and infected hundreds of cattle herds and dozens of humans, employees at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System at the University of California, Davis, have expressed serious concerns about the lab's capacity to manage the crisis.
Former lab workers have reported that limited career advancement opportunities and poor management have led to a significant staff exodus early last year. Chronic staffing shortages have since increased errors and left remaining workers ill-equipped to handle the demanding virus testing. “Management has made it clear that they prioritise getting results out fast because we have such a high sample load over ensuring that our results are accurate and pass our quality control programme,” said Alyssa Laxamana, a biotech worker at the lab. “That has been really tough.”
The University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119 union, which represents Laxamana and nearly 20,000 other laboratory and medical facility workers across the University of California system, voted last week to authorise a three-day strike beginning February 26, citing chronic staff shortages and recruitment and retention issues. These problems have “real impacts not just on our workers, but for Californians,” Amy Fletcher, UC-Davis co-chair for the union, told The Washington Post. “We are all now aware of the impacts of avian influenza, and if we could listen to workers, it would be much easier to address these concerns.”
Shortly before the strike was announced, Bill Kisliuk, a spokesperson for UC-Davis, stated in a two-page email to The Post that the lab has met “unprecedented” demand for bird flu testing during the outbreak and has “distributed the work broadly among qualified and certified team members.” The union has been negotiating a new contract with the University of California for several months, and at times, “the rhetoric can become heated,” he added.
California’s farms are concentrated in key regions, such as the Central Valley, making these areas a hotbed for bird flu. A ballot measure passed in 2018, which has been gradually implemented over subsequent years, prohibits the confinement of egg-laying hens to cages, increasing their exposure to wild birds that transmit the virus. The severity of the virus has exposed weaknesses in the country’s agricultural and veterinary response systems, with bird flu cases recently “exploding” in California, according to Meghan Davis, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
Consumers have already felt the impact of the outbreak through skyrocketing egg prices. The average price of a dozen large, Grade A eggs in U.S. cities was $4.95 in January, nearly double their price in January 2023, according to federal data. This spike is expected to continue throughout the year. Since the virus jumped to cattle last year, economists have been closely monitoring California, which is the country’s 11th-largest egg producer and its largest milk producer. While bird flu exposure is not fatal for cows, it has significantly reduced milk output in some affected dairy herds.
So far, the bird flu has had a limited impact on California’s dairy industry, as most cows have fully recovered after exposure, said Daniel Sumner, an agricultural and resource economics professor at UC-Davis. However, more than 75 percent of the 950 infected dairy herds in the United States are located in California, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in December to “streamline and expedite” the state’s response to bird flu.
The UC-Davis lab, which focuses on identifying new areas of infection, is critical to controlling the outbreak. A positive result can prompt farmers to cull thousands of birds, meaning a mistake can critically harm someone’s livelihood. Conversely, a false negative result risks exposing more animals and humans to the virus, further jeopardising the state’s food supply.
As the crisis continues, lab workers are grappling with the challenges of testing up to 600 samples a day, often spending four to six hours per shift sealed in protective gear. The strain of the ongoing bird flu outbreak has raised serious concerns about the adequacy of training and support for lab workers, with many fearing for the safety of the public and the food supply chain.