Kaiser Permanente reaches deal with workers

Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative deal with more than 75,000 of its health care workers Friday morning, a week after a three-day walkout that disrupted appointments and services at many hospitals and clinics.

The labor dispute was the latest in a series between health care organizations and their employees, many of whom cite exhaustion, burnout, and frustration with severe staffing shortages that have persisted long past the worst of the pandemic’s crushing workload.

The proposed four-year contract would include significant wage increases, setting a new minimum of $25 an hour in California. The unions said the proposed wage hikes were essential to attracting enough workers to provide adequate staffing at Kaiser’s facilities. The agreement would raise the hourly rate to $23 in other states and would stagger a 21 percent increase in wages over four years. It also includes what the union described as important protections against Kaiser’s ability to outsource jobs.

“Millions of Americans are safer today because tens of thousands of dedicated health care workers fought for and won the critical resources they need and that patients need,” Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents about half of Kaiser’s workforce, said in a statement. “This historic agreement will set a higher standard for the health care industry nationwide.”

Kaiser officials also applauded the proposed settlement. They said in a statement: “The new four-year agreement will offer Coalition-represented employees competitive wages, excellent benefits, generous retirement income plans and valuable job training opportunities that support their economic well-being, advance our shared mission and keep Kaiser Permanente a best place to work and receive care.”

Kaiser and the unions credited the involvement of Julie Su, the acting US labor secretary, for helping broker the tentative deal.