Kaiser Permanente health care workers picket as contract talks continue
Kaiser Permanente health care workers will be out picketing today at more than 40 facilities across the state, claiming unsafe staffing levels.
As a workforce contract is set to expire September 30, 85,000 frontline workers are expected to join picket lines.
Workers say there has been a health care staffing crisis at Kaiser for years, exacerbated by the pandemic with many departments constantly short-staffed. They say this makes it difficult to provide quality care, leading to long wait times, mistaken diagnoses and neglect.
Additional pickets will be held the same week at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. Together, they form the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing more than 85,000 health care workers in seven states and the District of Columbia.
Kaiser Permanente released the following statement:
Our priority is to reach an agreement that ensures we can continue to provide market-competitive pay and outstanding benefits. We are confident that we will be able to reach an agreement that strengthens our position as a best place to work and ensures that the high-quality care our members expect from us remains affordable and easy to access.
Given where we are in the bargaining process, it is clear that the picketing announced by the Coalition on July 13 is not about drawing attention to new issues, but rather an attempt to create some kind of bargaining leverage.
We have been and will continue to address the real issues that are affecting health care and our employees. On the heels of the global pandemic and given today's economy, these challenges include inflation and rising costs to deliver health care, increasing competition from non-traditional businesses, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and increases in the demand for access to health care. We look to the Coalition to be a constructive partner in helping address these and other challenges affecting us all.
