WASHINGTON — About 4,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente voted to approve a strike on Monday. Workers who are part of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 2 are moving closer to a strike over what they call unfair labor practices.
This comes on the heels of nearly 65,000 SEIU members in Colorado, California, Oregon, and Southwest Washington voting to authorize a strike at Kaiser Permanente in the past two weeks.
Union workers say Kaiser executives "refuse to acknowledge the decline in patient service and care and negate the struggle of the workforce to keep up the high cost of living in areas where Kaiser operates."
The union says a strike could be the largest health care strike in U.S. history.
"We’ve been raising the alarm about patient safety, but Kaiser isn’t hearing us. Kaiser executives keep refusing to listen to frontline health care workers on the issues that impact the care of our patients, and they’re violating the law by failing to bargain in good faith,” said Katrina Schaetz, OB-GYN Clinical Assistant. “We are standing up for more staff and better patient care. If Kaiser doesn't stop committing unfair labor practices, health care workers are prepared to go on strike.”
Tensions have been rising as contract expiration looms on Sept. 30. Workers say unsafe staffing levels can lead to dangerously long wait times for patients.
The union says Kaiser is proposing to make the staffing crisis worse, not better, with their proposals in negotiations including:
- Slashing performance bonuses for frontline workers
- Removing protections against subcontracting and outsourcing jobs to low-wage, for-profit companies, creating less stability in the workforce.
- Offering starting pay for certain entry-level positions that is not even competitive with fast food and retail chains in the high cost urban centers Kaiser operates in.
- Refusing to make serious commitments to develop the existing workforce to perform desperately needed hard-to-fill jobs and to train and recruit the volume of new staff needed to meet the projected workforce shortfall.
“Kaiser used to hold itself out as the best place to get care and the best place to work, but it is now failing at both. Kaiser can and must do better,” said Linda Bridges, President, OPEIU Local 2. “We are demanding Kaiser bargain in good faith, stop violating the law, and address the health care staffing crisis."
Kaiser Permanente meanwhile, takes issue with many of the union's claims. A spokesperson for the company responded to the union's statement Tuesday:
Performance Bonuses: The union claims KP is “slashing performance bonuses,” when in fact the opposite is true: We are proposing a minimum payment level to protect our employees from receiving no payout. Kaiser Permanente offers nearly all its employees an annual performance bonus that is based on organizational performance on quality and patient safety, financial performance, and supporting our communities, among other factors. In several of the past few years, the performance payout would have been eliminated for many employees, because the organization did not meet its financial goals. (During the pandemic, we actually provided employees with significant rewards each year out of recognition for all their dedicated work, for a total of $276 million in payments to Coalition-represented employees over the past three years. And this is in addition to the $800 million in employee assistance we provided our front-line employees, to ensure they had access to alternate housing options, special child care grants, and additional paid leave for COVID-19 illness and exposure.) We are proposing putting in a minimum payment level to reduce the chance of that happening again in the future. The union is demanding the program just be turned into a guaranteed payout, regardless of performance, which would defeat the purpose of the program and just make it a part of the wage total.
Subcontracting: The union claims KP is removing protections against subcontracting and outsourcing jobs. Because Kaiser Permanente pays at or above market compensation, our costs for flexing our workforce as needed is higher than other health care organizations, and hurts our ability to keep costs affordable for our members and customers. We have asked the Coalition to work with us on ways to increase our ability to be more nimble and affordable when bringing on staff in specific circumstances.
Starting Pay: The union claims Kaiser Permanente is offering starting pay below the level of fast food workers. In fact, we have proposed an enterprise-wide minimum wage starting at $21 an hour, higher in some areas and roles. The union wants a $26 an hour minimum wage.
Wage Increases: The union claims wages are failing to keep up with the cost of living. Inflation is hurting everyone, and it is driving up the cost of health care as well. Last week we made a proposal to the Coalition that includes across-the-board wage increases of between 10 and 14 percent over 4 years. In our MidAtlantic market, where Coalition-represented employees are at or above the 10% threshold, we are offering wage increases of 11% over four years.
We are leaders in employee wages and benefits in every market we are in. In fact, our philosophy is to deliver compensation that provides wages above the local market (at or up to 10% above market) to attract and retain the best employees. Our very generous health care and retirement benefits add another 50% of value to the overall compensation package. We help our employees build long-term economic security with low-cost health insurance, industry-leading retirement plans, and other benefit programs to support employee health and well-being.
Workforce Development and Hiring: The union claims Kaiser Permanente is refusing to develop the workforce, nor train and recruit new staff. This is not true. Kaiser Permanente invests in workforce development directly and through contributions to trust funds managed in partnership with our labor partners, which provide tools and resources to help front-line employees gain new skills and advance in their careers. Resources provided include coaching, training, and apprenticeship programs, scholarships and tuition assistance for degree and certification programs, and computers and mobile hot spot devices for qualifying students. In 2022, Kaiser Permanente provided more than $75 million in funding to 3 education trusts, available to more than 135,000 employees. We also provided Kaiser Permanente employees with more than $30 million in tuition reimbursement in 2022, as part of our annual spending to create opportunities for career advancement and a workforce skilled at using technology in the rapidly changing health care field.
The union and Kaiser Permanente have two more bargaining sessions scheduled. Kaiser Permanente says they are confident an agreement will be reached before the national agreement expires at the end of the month.