Kaiser Permanente strike: About 19,000 Bay Area workers take part in nationwide walkout
SAN FRANCISCO – Roughly 19,000 Bay Area Kaiser Permanente workers joined tens of thousands of their colleagues around the country on the picket lines Wednesday in what their union is calling the nation's largest ever health care worker strike.
Starting at 6 a.m., 75,000 members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and aligned unions walked off the job in five states and Washington, D.C., after negotiators failed to reach a last-minute contract agreement.
"Healthcare workers are taking the work action to protest Kaiser executives' bad faith bargaining, which is getting in the way of finding solutions to solve the Kaiser short-staffing crisis by investing in its workforce," union officials said in a news release.
"In recent days, Kaiser executives maintaining aggressive threats of outsourcing became a sticking point in negotiations, especially at a time when the company is failing to retain key employees," union officials said.
The strike is expected to last for three days unless the two sides reach a deal, and is impacting Kaiser hospitals and clinics in California, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Washington, D.C.
Patient Meghan Engle said, "I had an order to pick, an antibiotic. I was expecting a smooth experience. They're usually open until 6 but they said they were closing at 5 today. They were understaffed due to the strike."
Meghan Engle was one of a few lucky customers in San Jose who managed to get her prescription filled. Others were turned away.
Patient Tomas Rivera said, "I didn't even get to walk inside. The guy stopped me right at the door and said pharmacy, we're closed sharp at 5."
The strike also prompted a visit from the U.S. Department of Labor's acting secretary.
"The Acting Secretary of Labor travelled to her home state of California and met with the coalition representing employees and health care workers, as well as leadership for Kaiser Permanente. As the President and the Acting Secretary have both said on numerous occasions, collective bargaining works—even if it takes time. Acting Secretary Su remains engaged in moving talks forward in a productive way so that the parties may reach a fair contract for critical frontline workers."
-U.S. Department of Labor
In addition to the SEIU-UHW workers, two other local unions representing roughly 14,000 members—Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20 and Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 29 -- have authorized a sympathy strike.
SEIU-UHW officials have said that the health care giant is proposing to cut workers' performance bonuses, make it easier to outsource jobs to "low-wage, for-profit companies" and has failed to provide wages that keep up with inflation, among other things, according to the union.
Kaiser disputes many of the union's claims and said that it is offering across the board wage increases, a company-wide minimum wage starting at $21 an hour—the union is asking for $26 -- and continuing health benefits and retirement plans, among other things.
Kaiser officials said they have spent millions on staff development and training, accelerated the rate of hiring and are offering across-the-board wage increases of between 10 and 14 percent over four years.
"Both Kaiser Permanente management and Coalition union representatives are still at the bargaining table, having worked through the night in an effort to reach an agreement," Kaiser officials said Wednesday. "There has been a lot of progress, with agreements reached on several specific proposals late Tuesday."
The strike doesn't involve the Kaiser nurses' union or doctors and the company said hospitals and emergency departments will remain open, along with hospital pharmacies and critical infusion services.
Some outpatient pharmacies, laboratory, radiology and optical locations will be closed or operate with reduced hours.
People are encouraged to schedule appointments online at kp.org or by using the KP mobile app.
Patients with urgent needs for laboratory, radiology or optical services can call (866) 454-8855.
The striking workers include licensed vocational nurses, emergency department technicians, radiology technicians, ultrasound sonographers, teleservice representatives and respiratory therapists, among others.
Andrea Nakano contributed to this report.