Unions threaten nationwide strike
More than 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are preparing for a nationwide strike to start this fall as contract talks between the unionized workers and the “giant, nonprofit health care corporation” broke off Thursday without an agreement, union officials announced.
Kaiser management said in a statement that negotiations ended amicably Thursday and talks are ongoing.
The workers are from multiple unions in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii and the District of Columbia. Beginning in late July and continuing into August, union members will be voting to authorize their bargaining teams to call an unfair labor practice strike, union officials said. If approved, it would be the largest strike in the United States since the 1997 Teamsters strike at UPS, they said.
Union workers accuse Kaiser management of putting profits before patients, and, as one LVN at Kaiser in South Sacramento said, it seems as though the nonprofit “has lost its way and is acting more like a typical for-profit corporation, where only a few at the top truly thrive.”
The 85,000 members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions say they will call the unfair labor practice strike unless Kaiser begins to “bargain in good faith” in negotiations to restore a true workermanagement partnership, ensure safe staffing and compassionate use of technology, build the workforce of the future to deal with major projected shortages of licensed and accredited staff in the coming years and protect middle-class jobs with wages and benefits that can support families.
Kaiser workers also are demanding the company “adhere to basic financial transparency so consumers can make smart choices about their health care, lawmakers and regulators can do strict oversight of Kaiser’s operations, and employers and unions have the real-time information they need to negotiate better health care rates,” union officials said. “Transparency must include reporting of executive compensation, prices, and profit figures across Kaiser’s hospitals and for-profit medical groups.”
“Kaiser is one of the largest health care providers and insurers in the nation, but in many places it has gotten exemptions from the kind of reporting requirements that other healthrelated corporations must follow,” said Walter Allen, CKPU executive director. “Their ability to operate in the shadows allows them to avoid the kind of scrutiny consumers, employers, unions, and regulators need to protect the public.”
Dennis Dabney, senior vice president, National Labor Relations and the Office of Labor Management Partnership, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Hospitals said that what union leaders presented Friday misrepresents how the process is going.
“No strike has been called, and at the end of this week’s bargaining session, the parties agreed that management and union leaders will continue talking and working toward a mutually beneficial agreement,” Dabney said. “Throughout our conversations — including those yesterday — there has been a great deal of common ground around several major issues, including workforce planning, revitalizing employee and manager training and education, improving performance outcomes, strengthening issue resolution and problem-solving processes, eliminating workplace injuries and collaborative work to forecast the care needs of our patients in the future.”