Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente employees in California and elsewhere plan to go on strike in early October after the health care giant and unions representing a large portion of Kaiser’s workforce failed to reach an agreement this week over concerns regarding pay, staffing and other issues.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions announced Friday that a three-day strike could begin Oct. 4 to protest Kaiser’s “malicious negotiations” over solutions to what the coalition calls a “staffing crisis” that threatens patient safety. The strike will move forward if an agreement is not reached by September 30, when the unions’ current contracts expire, the coalition said.
“Kaiser leaders refuse to acknowledge how much patient care has deteriorated or how much frontline healthcare workers and patients are suffering as a result of Kaiser’s staffing crisis,” Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, said in a statement from the coalition.
Kaiser Permanente noted that the unions’ decision to issue a 10-day strike notice is not a guarantee that a strike will occur. The organization said in a statement that it will “continue to negotiate in good faith until we reach a fair and equitable agreement that strengthens our position as the best employer and ensures that the high-quality care our members expect from us remains affordable.” .” easy to reach.”
According to the coalition, which includes members of four international unions, the strike would affect Kaiser plants in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and Washington, DC. Hospitals and clinics would be deprived of a range of workers represented by multiple unions, including medical assistants, phlebotomists, information technology workers, surgical technicians, laboratory technicians, pharmacy workers, social workers, food service workers and housekeepers.
More than a third of Kaiser’s workforce is represented by unions that plan to take part in the October strike, the employer said.
Union leaders said the action was the largest strike by health care workers in U.S. history.
Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, called Friday’s announcement “pretty significant” given the large number of people Kaiser served. The healthcare workers’ move follows a “dramatic series of strikes” by hotel workers, writers, actors, autoworkers and other workers that “contribute to the sense that worker solidarity makes a difference and that collective action can advance the agenda.” . “forward,” he said.
“The pandemic has created widespread feelings that the system is not working for working people,” Wong said, reflected in the fact that “support for unions has not been higher in decades.”
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West and many other unions in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions announced this month that their members had voted overwhelmingly to agree to a strike if an agreement is not reached by the end of September, when their current contracts expire . Members of the unions that make up the coalition work in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC
Union leaders have accused the Oakland-based health system of chronic staffing shortages that they say are lengthening wait times for patients and compromising patient safety.
“Healthcare workers see Kaiser patients forced to wait uncertain lengths of time for cancer screenings, room assignments, test results, primary care appointments, x-rays, surgeries, emergency room waits and more,” says Audrey Cardenas Loera, welfare specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Hillsboro, Oregon, said in a statement from the union coalition. “We simply want our patients to be safe and receive the care they deserve.”
The coalition also said wages had not kept pace with the rising cost of living and accused Kaiser of failing to negotiate in good faith to resolve the problems.
Kaiser said it has made a concerted effort to bring more employees on board and invested in workforce development programs to train health care professionals. It also described itself as a leader in wages and benefits.
An important sticking point in the negotiations was wages. SEIU-UHW, which represents nearly 60,000 workers in California, said the coalition has advocated for a minimum wage of $25 an hour across the Kaiser Permanente system, while the health system has proposed a floor of $21 an hour . Union leaders also said Kaiser’s proposal for wage increases will not keep pace with the rising cost of living.
Last week, Kaiser said it was offering “across-the-board wage increases” of about 10% to more than 14% over four years. The larger raises would go to workers in regions where wages are not at least 10% higher than local workers for similar jobs, Kaiser said.
“Market wages are currently at different levels across the country, so we must adjust wage increases so that everyone benefits equitably,” Kaiser said in a statement released ahead of the Labor Day protests. In areas where wages are well above the market average, “it becomes harder for us to provide affordable care,” and in areas where wages are below, it is harder to “retain the best people.”
Additionally, employees receive “very generous health and retirement benefits,” Kaiser said.
But unions said none of the proposed increases were acceptable and rejected the regional approach to wage increases.
In Southern California, for example, Kaiser offered a raise of about 10% over four years – less than in other areas – plus flat bonuses of 4%. SEIU-UHW spokeswoman Renée Saldaña said bonuses will not increase wages in future years or be incorporated into pensions. She also expressed concerns about rising costs in LA
“Housing and rental prices have skyrocketed in Los Angeles, as have the prices of food, gasoline and other essentials,” Saldaña said last month. “Why does Kaiser want to treat our caregivers in Los Angeles as second class to the rest of the state?”
The unions also accuse the healthcare giant of unfair labor practices. In August, Regan said that at one point Kaiser representatives “literally refused to even come into the room and speak to us.” The union coalition also claimed that during negotiations, Kaiser refused to release information it requested, including details about its finances.
Kaiser said in August that allegations that it had not negotiated in good faith were “unfounded and counterproductive.”
“We have been there for our employees during the pandemic and will continue to be there for them in the future,” Kaiser said in its statement, claiming that it has weathered the pandemic and its strains on health care workers better than other organizations due to its “excellent pay.” and benefits” and other support for employees.
After tens of thousands of workers agreed to authorize a strike last week, Kaiser said it remained confident a deal would be reached in a timely manner. However, she also assured Kaiser members that she has “comprehensive plans to ensure continued access to needed health services should a strike occur later this year.”
The health system is largely unionized: Nearly 75% of Kaiser Permanente’s workforce is represented by unions, including others not affiliated with the coalition, according to the employer.
These other unions include the United Nurses Assns. of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents about 24,000 Kaiser nurses, nurse practitioners, optometrists and other health care workers, the vast majority of them in Southern California.
Its president, Charmaine Morales, said that workers at Kaiser “have been pushed to the breaking point and beyond by staffing shortages” and that the union stands in solidarity with the coalition.
“See you at the picket line,” Morales said in a statement Friday.