A coalition of unions representing 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers said it will begin gathering strike authorization votes Saturday, Aug. 26 as rank-and-file employees gear up for a possible unfair labor practices strike that could begin as early as Oct. 1.
If a walkout happens, it will impact scores of Kaiser hospitals and clinics, including 23 in Southern California, union officials said.
The voting begins in Denver and ends Sept. 13, working its way through Kaiser facilities in California, Colorado, Oregon, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.
Chronic understaffing, low wages
In a press conference held Thursday, Aug. 24 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, representatives with the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and front-line workers said the healthcare giant has repeatedly failed to address chronic understaffing, which has resulted in long delays in patient care.
Employees are also fighting for a base wage of $25 an hour so they can better afford increased costs for housing, gas, groceries and other necessities.
“This workforce cannot keep up with what’s happening out there,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West. “Healthcare workers for the past three years have been pushed to the limit. It’s been traumatic, exhausting and debilitating in so many ways.”
If a strike happens, union representatives say workers likely will all be picketing at the same time — a scenario that could severely affect patient care and services.
Regan said Kaiser representatives have refused to meet with the coalition’s bargaining team over the past three days and have failed to provide financial documents and other data the group needs to ensure fair and open negotiations.
The coalition noted that newly released financials show Kaiser made $3 billion in profit over the first six months of 2023 and reported more than $24 billion in profit over the past five years.
“We’ve filed dozens of bad faith bargaining charges, and we expect to prevail with the National Labor Relations Board,” Regan said.
‘Important progress’
In a statement issued Thursday, Kaiser said “important progress” has already been made through labor negotiations, despite the threat of a possible walkout.
“This tactic does not reflect any breakdown in bargaining, nor does it indicate a strike is imminent or will happen at all,” the company said. “We urge our employees to reject any call for a strike and continue to focus on providing care and service to the patients who need them.”
Kaiser said it has plans in place to ensure patients will have access to medical care in the event of a strike.
Miriam de la Paz, a unit secretary at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, said the impasse is wearing thin.
“Kaiser cannot keep bargaining in bad faith and committing unfair labor practices,” de la Paz said in a statement. “Kaiser is facing chronic understaffing because workers can’t afford to live in L.A. on the low wages they pay us.”
The coalition is asking for a four-year contract with annual pay increases of 7% in the first and second years and yearly hikes of 6.25% in the third and fourth years.
“We are behind because of cost-of-living increases,” Regan said. “Kaiser has not even made a counter-proposal.”
Kaiser said the unions’ current position is that wage increases should not be market-based.
“This prevents us from addressing wage disparities that exist in many of Kaiser Permanente’s markets where, for some jobs, wages are significantly higher than our targeted wage level,” the healthcare provider said. “And in other cases, our employees’ wages are below other competitors in the market, impacting our ability to attract and retain the best people.”
Mikki Fletchall, a licensed vocational nurse at a Kaiser facility in Camarillo and a member of SEIU-UHW, said workers there have approached Kaiser with plans aimed at attracting and retaining healthcare workers that would also save the company money. Kaiser flatly rejected all of them, she said.
And understaffing?
“My time is triple booked,” the 64-year-old Ventura resident said. “Understaffing affects the time I can spend with each patient. We’re overworked and it leaves you thinking, ‘Did I do everything right?’ No one wants to run the risk of errors. And when we earn time off we often can’t take it because there aren’t enough employees to backfill our jobs.”
Kaiser said healthcare organizations across the board have experienced staffing challenges driven by the pandemic and its lasting effects but said it has weathered the challenges better than most.
“Kaiser Permanente and the coalition have agreed to work together to accelerate hiring, and we set a joint goal in bargaining of hiring 10,000 new people for Coalition-represented jobs in 2023,” the company said.
That effort, Kaiser said, has already resulted in more than 6,500 positions filled.
If Kaiser executives don’t act quickly to rectify the unfair labor practices, workers say they’ll have no choice but to strike.
“This is not a joke,” Regan said. “This is real life. We are not kidding.”
Source: Orange County Register
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