Kaiser Permanente union workers weighing a strike
Contract negotiations between Kaiser Permanente and unions representing 85,000 of its workers, including 3,500 in Colorado, derailed Thursday, boosting the odds of a walkout this fall.
Members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions will hold votes starting in late July on whether to authorize an unfair labor practice strike.
Coalition members in Colorado are meeting Saturday to discuss the next steps, which could include a strike vote in early September, said David Fernandez, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 105.
“If there is going to be a strike in Colorado, it would happen on Oct. 1,” Fernandez said. That’s the day after the local’s current contract expires.
About 235 members of the local and supporters picketed three Kaiser locations in metro Denver on Thursday to increase pressure on the nonprofit health care provider, which employees argue is behaving increasingly like a for-profit corporation — and not in a good way.
Labor unions claim management has undercut one of the most successful labormanagement partnerships in the country by offering pay increases below the rate of inflation, watering down benefits for new hires, weakening protections for job security and outsourcing positions to vendors who pay substantially less.
For example, Kaiser Permanente Colorado is offering wage hikes of 1 percent or 2 percent per year. The coalition wants 3 percent to 4 percent per year, arguing they are necessary to keep up with rapidly rising living costs in states such as Colorado and California.
The coalition claims Kaiser Permanente is low-balling its workers despite having cleared $9 billion in profits since January 2017 and building up $31.5 billion in reserves.
Kaiser Permanente, in a statement, said it would stick to its pledge to bargain in good faith and maintain its commitment to reach “fair and equitable agreements that provide our employees with excellent, marketcompetitive benefits and wages.”
“We are disappointed that some union leaders are choosing to make false allegations and pursue an adversarial, destructive approach as part of their bargaining strategy,” the health care provider said.
When positions are outsourced, affected employees are relocated elsewhere or offered up to a year’s worth of salary and benefits if that can’t be arranged, the statement said. The reserves are needed to hedge
against unexpected events, cover facility investments and to guarantee future pension obligations.
“We remain committed to keeping Kaiser Permanente a great place to work and to receive care. We know that to keep reaching this goal, we must provide market-competitive benefits and pay so that we can attract and retain the best employees,” the organization said.
Doctors, registered nurses and mental health workers are not among those considering a strike. Kaiser Permanente employs 8,000 people in Colorado.
Kaiser Permanente counts 12.3 million members, including 640,000 in Colorado. It has $80 billion in annual revenues and is profitable nationally. But its Colorado operations absorbed $35 million in losses in recent years because of higher reimbursement costs to area hospitals.
If a national strike does happen, it would rank as the largest labor action in the U.S. since 185,000 Teamsters walked out on UPS in 1997, the coalition said.