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kaiser strike
'Victory': After Historic Strike, Healthcare Unions Reach Tentative Deal With Kaiser Permanente
The agreement comes after more than 75,000 Kaiser employees took part in the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history, protesting staff shortages and low pay.
Oct 13, 2023
This is a developing news story... Check back for updates...
The coalition of labor unions that represents the tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers who took part in the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history last week announced Friday that it has reached a tentative contract agreement with the nonprofit hospital giant after months of negotiations.
The details of the agreement were not immediately available, but SEIU United Healthcare Workers West—part of the Kaiser union coalition—called the tentative agreement a "victory" in a social media post.
"The frontline healthcare workers of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente," the union wrote. "We are thankful for the instrumental support of Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su. A full announcement will follow shortly.
Last week, 75,000 Kaiser employees in several states went on strike to protest chronic understaffing, job outsourcing, inadequate wages, and the company's alleged unfair labor practices.
The three-day walkout drew vocal support from progressive members of Congress and the labor movement, including the striking United Auto Workers.
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'It's Time We Have Their Back': Progressive Lawmakers Voice Solidarity With Striking Kaiser Workers
"If Kaiser can afford to pay its CEO over $15.4 million it can afford to treat all of its workers with respect," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Oct 05, 2023
The largest healthcare worker strike in U.S. history entered its second day on Thursday with the backing of progressive members of Congress, who voiced solidarity with Kaiser Permanente employees in their fight for better wages and an end to chronic understaffing at facilities across the country.
"Safe staffing levels and living wages are critical to delivering high-quality healthcare to the millions of Californians covered by Kaiser," Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a 2024 U.S. Senate candidate, wrote on social media Wednesday, calling on Kaiser management to "bargain in good faith."
Other prominent lawmakers in the House and Senate—including Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Katie Porter (D-Calif.)—also voiced support for the striking workers.
"During the height of Covid, we all said that healthcare workers were absolutely essential and we applauded them for their bravery and courage," Khanna said in a video message. "Now it's time we have their back to make sure that they're paid fairly and treated with respect."
Sanders, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote that "if Kaiser can afford to pay its CEO over $15.4 million it can afford to treat all of its workers with respect."
"Whether you work in a hospital, or behind a desk, or on an assembly line, your fight is our fight."
More than 75,000 Kaiser workers—including nurses, pharmacists, radiology technicians, and call center representatives—walked off the job early Wednesday in California, Colorado, Oregon, and other states after around six months of contract negotiations that did not produce an acceptable agreement. The previous contract expired on September 30.
While the walkouts are expected to end Saturday morning, the coalition of unions that represents the striking workers has said it is prepared to launch a bigger and longer strike next month if the company continues engaging in unfair labor practices and refusing to meet core wage and staffing demands.
Understaffing at Kaiser has resulted in delays in patient care and left workers feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. And low pay in areas with high costs of living has forced some healthcare workers to sleep in their cars as Kaiser—a nonprofit that benefits hugely from tax exemptions—rakes in billions.
"Frontline healthcare workers are awaiting a meaningful response from Kaiser executives regarding some of our key priorities including safe staffing, outsourcing protections for incumbent healthcare workers, and fair wages to reduce turnover," Caroline Lucas, a spokesperson for Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, said in a statement late Wednesday.
"Healthcare workers within the coalition remain ready to meet at any time," said Lucas. "Currently, the strike continues, and there are no sessions scheduled at this hour."
The striking Kaiser employees are among the more than 400,000 U.S. workers in a range of sectors who have walked off the job this year in pursuit of better pay, benefits, and conditions.
The United Auto Workers (UAW), which is currently striking at the Big Three U.S. car manufacturers, celebrated the Kaiser strike as part of a broader working-class fight for justice.
"Today, we stand in solidarity with the 75,000 members of our union family who are on strike at Kaiser," UAW president Shawn Fain said Wednesday. "Whether you work in a hospital, or behind a desk, or on an assembly line, your fight is our fight. We all deserve dignity on and off the job. We all deserve a future for our families and our communities. We all deserve our fair share of the economy that we, as working people, create and run. To our union family on strike at Kaiser, the UAW has your back."
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Largest Healthcare Strike in US History Begins as Kaiser Workers Revolt
"We have folks getting injured on the job because they're trying to do too much and see too many people and work too quickly," said one union leader, demanding better staffing levels. "It's not a sustainable situation."
Oct 04, 2023
Tens of thousands of healthcare workers across the United States began a three-day strike against Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday to protest the nonprofit hospital giant's alleged unfair labor practices, bad-faith bargaining, inadequate wages, and chronic staff shortages that employees say are harming them and patients.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents the 75,000 Kaiser workers who are expected to walk off the job Wednesday, said picket lines will be set up at hundreds of Kaiser hospitals and facilities in California, Colorado, Washington, and other states, as well as in Washington, D.C.
The walkout is expected to be the largest healthcare worker strike in U.S. history.
"Jobs affected by the strike include licensed vocational nurses, emergency department technicians, radiology technicians, ultrasound sonographers, teleservice representatives, respiratory therapists, x-ray technicians, optometrists, certified nursing assistants, dietary services, behavioral health workers, surgical technicians, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, transporters, home health aides, phlebotomists, medical assistants, dental assistants, call center representatives, and housekeepers, among hundreds of other positions," the coalition said in a statement.
Renée Saldaña, a spokesperson for SEIU United Healthcare Workers West—which is part of the Kaiser union coalition—told the Los Angeles Times that "healthcare workers want to be at the facilities with their patients."
"They're doing this for their patients because of the delays in care, because of the short-staffing crisis," said Saldaña.
The strike kicked off after contract talks between union negotiators and Kaiser—which
reported nearly $3.3 billion in net income in the first half of 2023—stalled Tuesday night without a tentative contract agreement. The previous four-year contract expired at the end of September, and negotiations over a new agreement began in April.
"We continue to have frontline healthcare workers who are burnt out and stretched to the max and leaving the industry," Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, toldCNBC. "We have folks getting injured on the job because they're trying to do too much and see too many people and work too quickly. It's not a sustainable situation."
Union negotiators have called on Kaiser to hire at least 10,000 new workers by the end of the year to help alleviate staff shortages that—according to a recent survey of healthcare workers in California—have resulted in care being delayed or denied.
Negotiators have also demanded a $25 minimum wage for all Kaiser employees and a
24.5% wage increase over the course of a new four-year contract.
The company has refused to meet many of the unions' core demands, offering wage proposals that
would not even keep up with inflation.
"Kaiser executives are refusing to listen to us and are bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis," said Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center. "I see my patients' frustrations when I have to rush them and hurry on to my next patient. That's not the care I want to give. We're burning ourselves out trying to do the jobs of two or three people, and our patients suffer when they can't get the care they need due to Kaiser's short-staffing."
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