Kaiser mental health workers’ strike enters eighth day

Health workers for Kaiser Permanente are entering their eighth day on strike and plan to picket Monday at medical centers in San Diego, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Fontana.

Negotiations between Kaiser union leaders and the company began on Friday. No talks have been scheduled as the strike enters its second week.

“We remain open to resuming negotiations if Kaiser is willing to reach an agreement,” said Jim Clifford, a licensed medical consultant for Kaiser in San Diego. “Everything we have planned, Kaiser already provides for almost all of California’s workers. Kaiser will not meet its obligations to reform its health care system. mental health unless it starts treating its mental health professionals the same as all its employees.”

Picket lines will run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, workers will picket at the following locations:

• Los Angeles Medical Center (LAMC), 4867 W. Sunset Blvd.
• San Diego Medical Center, 9455 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
• Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana
• Anaheim Medical Center, 3440 East La Palma Ave., Anaheim

There will be lunchtime meetings with the public and elected officials at all four locations.

Picketing is planned for Tuesday at medical centers in Riverside, Woodland Hills, Irvine and Baldwin Park.

According to the organization, affected workers include psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, drug addiction counselors, licensed clinical counselors and family and family physicians “who provides health care to 4.8 million Kaiser members in hospitals, clinics and medical offices. [and] home care settings from San Diego to Bakersfield.”

The union’s contract with Kaiser expired on September 30.

The staffing dispute comes a year after Kaiser reached a $50 million settlement with federal regulators who said the agency’s mental health system was understaffed. that it is impossible to get medical attention.

Kaiser officials say the organization has invested more than $1 billion since 2020 to expand its mental health capacity in California, including hiring more doctors, adding resources and reducing wait times for patients.

The organization, however, says the shortage continues in Southern California, insisting that Kaiser has one physician for every 3,000 Kaiser members, compared to a one in 2,000 in Northern California. That ratio limited the time available to doctors to respond to patient calls and emails, create treatment plans and prepare for appointments, leading to burnout and causing newly hired doctors to leave their jobs. them, the organization is in conflict.

The organization says a quarter of the 1,508 mental health professionals hired by Kaiser’s Southern California region between January 2021 and September 2024 have left their positions.

Kaiser officials said in a statement that the health system intends to continue negotiations “until this agreement is reached.” But it said the union had been focused on the strike since the beginning of negotiations, and was “moving slowly through the negotiation process, including on the issues the union has identified as key to reaching a contract.” .”

“It is clear that their plan has always been to go on strike,” according to Kaiser’s statement. “They have been threatening to strike since before we started negotiating in July and have acted without a sense of urgency, refusing to accept or oppose the strong proposals that Kaiser Permanente has put on the table. Especially regarding and, the union proposed the end of a full-time doctor who spends 40% or more of their work week not seeing patients.”

According to Kaiser, it presented the organization with an offer that includes an 18% salary increase over four years, and also “improves the comprehensive benefits that our mental health professionals enjoy as well as giving professionals time a lot that doesn’t have the patience to plan and prepare.”

Kaiser said the strike was “totally unnecessary and unfortunately not surprising. NUHW leaders have been threatening to strike since before we started negotiating in July. The union has been slow to negotiate leave, despite the strong proposals Kaiser Permanente has put on the table. The union’s proposals on the table have been extreme and unreasonable.

“The organization is not asking for more time to care for patients. It wants more money for doctors to spend less time seeing patients. The important issue is whether the organization wants to remove doctors from direct patient care where it suggests that full-time professionals increase the time they do not see patients to about half of their time – at least 19 hours per week and can significantly reduce access to health services. mental health for our patients.

Union workers say they want an agreement similar to the one reached with mental health workers at Kaiser Northern California, who went on strike for 10 weeks two years ago.

The organization is asking Kaiser to guarantee full-time specialists seven hours a week for patient care tasks such as answering patient phone calls and emails, creating treatment plans, communicating with social service agencies and preparing for the appointment. Union workers say Kaiser only guarantees four hours a week.

The union is also seeking a raise for non-mental health workers, who the union says earn 40% more. It is also calling for the reinstatement of pensions that the union says were abolished for mental health professionals hired in the past decade, although pensions remain for other workers from doctors to to the housekeepers.