[ A three day strike preceded the settlement.]
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KAISER PERMANENTE WORKERS WIN 21% RAISE OVER 4 YEARS  
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Selena Simmons-Duffin , Scott Maucione
October 13, 2023
NPR
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_ A three day strike preceded the settlement. _

Striking Kaiser Permanente workers on the picket line in front of a
hospital in Vallejo, Calif., on Oct. 6. A deal to avert another strike
came together Friday. , Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 

Kaiser Permanente and a coalition of unions reached a tentative deal
Friday morning, ending the largest healthcare labor dispute in U.S.
history.

The new contract aims to address staffing shortages with raises that
will amount to 21% in wage increases over the next four years, to help
retain current workers.

The deal comes after tens of thousands of nurses, ER technicians, and
pharmacists participated in a three-day strike Oct. 4-6.

Striking workers argued an under-staffing crisis was hurting patients.

Both sides credited the involvement of acting
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Labor Secretary Julie Su, who was there in person when the final
version was hammered out at 3 A.M. in San Francisco.

"This agreement demonstrates what is possible when workers have a
voice and a seat at the table," Su said during a press conference
Friday.

"Collective bargaining works. It may not always look pretty. But
unions have, throughout our nation's history, built the middle class."

Steve Shields, the lead for labor relations at Kaiser, said the
negotiations were long, but all parties now feel like they have come
to a solid agreement.

"It was a bumpy ride," he said. "We are committed to the mission and
committed to caring for people in our communities. It is a challenging
environment in the U.S. in general for healthcare. We don't have
enough healthcare workers."

Kaiser employees who participated in the strike will vote to ratify
the new contract starting Oct. 18.

"This deal is life-changing for frontline health care workers like me,
and life-saving for our patients," said Yvonne Esquivel, a pediatric
medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente in Gilroy, Calif.

"Thousands of Kaiser health care workers fought hard for this new
agreement, and now we will finally have the resources we need to do
the job we love, and keep our patients safe," Esquivel said.

The new contract establishes a minimum wage health care workers at
Kaiser Permanente, which is both an insurer and a system of hospitals
and clinics. In California, that minimum wage will be $25 per hour,
and $23 per hour for workers in other states.

The health care giant has workers and facilities in Washington,
Oregon, Colorado, Maryland and Washington D.C., among other states.

The contract covers represents big wins for the coalition of unions
representing 85,000 Kaiser Permanente staff. Other details of the
agreement include new restrictions on hiring subcontractors and using
outside firms for temporary staffing.

The deal also requires Kaiser to invest in job training programs, and
use referral bonuses, mass job fairs and other workforce development
efforts to ensure an adequate supply of new employees for the future.

Kaiser says it will also work to fill some of its vacant positions,
one of the main components of the coalition's demands. Currently, 11%
of positions are unfilled.

"A key provision was something we referred to as an accelerated hiring
process, said Dave Regan, the president of SEIU United Healthcare
Workers. " We're removing all barriers to being able to get people
into positions and into patient facing roles to provide care."

Kaiser will focus on hard-to-fill positions first.

"We think we have the ability to create 25,000 new health care workers
over the next four years," Regan said. "We can't do that unless we
rebuild the partnership."

If an agreement hadn't been reached, the union was threatening to hold
another three-day strike in November.

* healthcare workers
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* Strikes
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* Kaiser Permanente
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