Bio
Ra Criscitiello, Esq. is deputy director of research at SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West in Oakland, California, a labor union of nearly 100,000 healthcare workers. SEIU-UHW members are frontline caregivers, including respiratory care practitioners, dietary, environmental services, and nursing staff who aim to improve the healthcare system by providing quality care for all patients, expanding access to excellent, affordable healthcare for all Californians, and improving living standards for all workers. Ra’s work focuses on the intersection of organized labor and worker cooperatives, and she has built several innovative employment models that collectivize the employment status of unionized healthcare workers on scale. Ra’s work developing unionized platform cooperatives demonstrates the possibility of a post-pandemic economic recovery that centers workers and allows flexibility without compromising traditional union values or worker control.