Union, Kaiser extend labor talks
Without a deal, a 3-day strike is scheduled to start Wednesday and is billed as the largest ever
With the threat of a strike looming, contract negotiations between the Service Employees International Union and Kaiser Permanente, which were set to end Sunday, were continuing through Monday.
Though the union continues to accuse Kaiser of “bargaining in bad faith” and “unfair labor practices,” the change — confirmed by both sides Sunday — nonetheless suggests the two may be making progress toward avoiding what has been billed as the nation's largest-ever three-day strike. It remains scheduled to start Wednesday.
Of the union's 75,000 members, roughly 60,000 are in California. Kaiser has 23 facilities in Southern California and 5.2 million members in Southern California
and Hawaii.
“Given the urgency of this staffing crisis, frontline health care workers are ready to sit down with Kaiser executives whenever they are ready to bargain in good faith over lasting solutions so patients can be safe and get the care they deserve, including the remainder of the weekend and into next week,” said SEIU representative Renée Saldaña in an email sent midmorning Sunday.
In its own statement, Kaiser shared an upbeat assessment of progress in negotiations.
“We remain optimistic that we will reach an agreement and avoid an unnecessary strike,” Kaiser said.
The integrated medical provider, which provides both health insurance and the full spectrum of care for the patients it covers, said talks have brokered “guaranteed across-the-board wage increases,” including a proposed $21 minimum wage in several states where it operates other than California, including Washington, Oregon and Colorado, and a $23 minimum in California, starting in 2024.
In its strike statements, the union has focused on labor shortages rather than wages, indicating that the lack of workers is “hurting patients and employees across the U.S.”
Short staffing, driven by retirements and resignations that occurred during and after the coronavirus pandemic, have plagued medical providers at all levels, with some recent research indicating that skilled nursing facilities have been hit the hardest.
One recent write-up on the situation from USC's Keck School of Medicine called the industrywide shortfall “a public health care crisis.”
Kaiser insists that it is doing what it can, and more than many of its competitors, to make sure there are enough workers to care for a growing number of sick patients, many of whom delayed receiving care during the pandemic and are now arriving in droves.
“Despite the acute shortage of health care workers nationally, we have been able to hire more than 50,000 frontline employees in the last two years: 29,000 people in 2022 and another 22,000 so far this year,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser further said that it agreed with SEIU and the coalition of other unions threatening to strike that it would hire 10,000 workers by the end of 2023 and should hit that number this month.
Kaiser has indicated that it has a strike operations plan in place, but has not shared details of its procedures.