Kaiser Permanente employees on the first day of the strike, October 4th. Irfan Khan (Los Angeles Times / (Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)
Kaiser Permanente Hospital and unions have reached an agreement in principle to end one of the largest health care worker strikes in the United States. Around 75,000 workers at the center, which is also one of the country’s largest insurers, had launched a three-day protest demanding higher wages and better conditions. It was the first collective agreement that was negotiated after the corona pandemic. The conflict affected hospital operations in seven states across the country, where Kaiser serves 13 million people. The principle of the agreement provides for an annual salary increase of 21% until 2027. This will disable new protests called for early November and prevent the joining of thousands of other health care workers whose collective agreements expire at the end of October.
The tentative agreement increases the minimum wage for California workers to $25 an hour. In the remaining states, workers earn $23 an hour. The pact also includes a 21% increase spread over the next four years, the duration of the new agreement. Kaiser Permanente, a private nonprofit organization, is committed to providing its employees with protection from subcontracting and outsourcing. The agreement must be ratified by workers in the coming weeks.
“This historic agreement raises the bar for the entire healthcare industry across the country,” said Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Kaiser Permanente union coalition. “Millions of Americans are safer now because tens of thousands of dedicated workers fought and won resources that are vital to them and their patients,” he added in a statement released this afternoon.
The agreement was announced by the parties on social media this morning. The coalition, which represents about 85,000 workers, recognized the commitment of Julie Su, the Biden administration’s labor secretary. Minister Su has held the post on an interim basis since March of this year, waiting for Senate Republicans to vote on her appointment. “Su was instrumental in advancing the dialogue and facilitating a satisfactory conclusion,” Sarah Levesque, secretary of the second section of one of the unions that make up the workers’ defense group, told the Los Angeles Times.
Biden acknowledged the agreement reached in a statement expressing support for workers’ organizations. “We owe a great debt of gratitude to healthcare workers (…) These workers and all the support staff kept our hospitals and the country running during the dark months of the pandemic. You have supported us in one of our most difficult times,” said the president this Friday, who last month became the first resident of the White House to join a strike demonstration in support of auto industry workers.
The unions represent nurses, health assistants, administrative staff, canteen and cleaning staff, laboratory technicians and opticians, among others. These called for a minimum wage of $25 an hour and increases of 7% in the first two years of the contract and 6.25% in the remaining two years. The final agreement will meet your requirements.
The Oakland, Northern California-based company had revenue of $2.1 billion in its most recent quarter. Kaiser had made a counteroffer with wages ranging from $21 to $23 an hour, depending on employees’ location, and promised to hire 10,000 new employees to ease the workload on the workforce. The company assures that it has hired 51,000 workers in its centers in several states since 2022.
The union, the western chapter of the United Healthcare Workers, had accused Kaiser Permanente of negotiating in “bad faith.” This led to the dialogue between the parties stalling and the labor dispute breaking out. The first day of the strike was October 4th. Thousands of employees left the centers where they worked at 6 a.m. to begin picketing the doors of hospitals.
These protests received particular attention in the western United States. Employees in Colorado, Oregon and Washington demonstrated for three days, as did workers in California, where most of Kaiser Permanente’s business is concentrated. Smaller demonstrations involving about 180 toilets and just one day took place in Virginia and Washington DC. The union coalition had told the company that they would stage new protests between November 1 and November 8 if an agreement could not be reached. Another 3,000 hospital workers in Seattle, Washington have also joined the strike as their current contracts expire on October 31st.
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