UNAC/UHCP Secretary Elizabeth “Liz” Hawkins, RN, has been a registered nurse for over 30 years, and a UNAC/UHCP member for more than 25 years. Elected to her position in 2017, Liz had previously been a union leader at her local affiliate, and a UNAC/UHCP staff representative.
For three years as UNAC/UHCP fought for workplace violence protections, Liz was the face of our campaign. She suffered serious injury at the hands of violent patient, and spoke out to ensure that CalOSHA wrote regulations that would protect other health care workers from a similar fate. Along the way, Liz provided crucial testimony at Cal/OSHA hearings as the draft regulations took shape, addressing politicians in Sacramento, and authored a petition to CalOSHA that garnered over 13,000 signatures. Thanks to her work and that of other UNAC/UHCP leaders, Cal/OSHA regulations went into effect in 2017.