Editor:

When I was working as a union representative for a healthcare workers' union in Los Angeles, I got to meet healthcare workers in the dialysis industry. Most of these workers worked six days a week and faced appalling working conditions that put both their patients and themselves at risk.

Some 80,000 Californians need dialysis to stay alive and that's why voters need to vote yes on Proposition 8. This initiative makes the dialysis corporations accountable to improving patient care — getting rid of the cockroaches, the dried blood and understaffing that workers told me are far too common in the clinics.

The industry is spending $100 million to scare us into thinking that clinics will close. These corporations made almost $4 billion in profits last year, so let's make them spend that money on better patient care instead of enriching their executives and shareholders.

Patricia Thomas, McKinleyville