Alliance union agreements ratified

This message from Greg Holmes, executive vice president and chief human resources officer, and Arlene Peasnall, senior vice president, Human Resources Consulting, Labor Relations, and Office of the Labor Management Partnership, was sent to all Kaiser Permanente employees on Thursday, April 16.

There is good news to share: Employees represented by the Alliance of Health Care Unions have ratified 52 new collective bargaining agreements with their local unions and Kaiser Permanente.

Important context: As we conclude this nearly 11-month bargaining process, we want to share some important context.

Our management team entered these negotiations with clear goals: to reach agreements that keep Kaiser Permanente care affordable for our members and support our long-term sustainability; to invest in our employees through fair improvements in pay, benefits, and career development; and to ensure Kaiser Permanente remains a great place to work and receive care.

Why it matters: Achieving these goals was critical to our ability to continue delivering high-quality, affordable care to the members and communities we serve. As negotiations progressed, we also sought flexibility to resolve issues at the local bargaining level when needed — an approach that ultimately allowed us to reach agreements in a more timely way.

Our compensation philosophy is to pay our employees, on average, as much as 10% above the market in which they work to ensure we attract and retain the best people. Yet we recognized from the outset that Alliance-represented employees experienced significant economic pressure during the prior contract period due to pandemic-related inflation. That’s why our across-the-board wage offer was strong from the beginning, and why we stood by the even stronger proposal of 21.5% that we first put forward in early October. This across-the-board wage increase is one of the highest among recent comparable health system agreements.

The bargaining process was difficult: We negotiated in good faith, offering an outstanding comprehensive proposal in October in an effort to reach agreement and avoid a strike. We communicated clearly that our 21.5% final across-the-board wage offer would not change, as this would risk health care affordability for our members, and that a strike would only delay agreement. Despite this, we endured 2 significant work stoppages, including a 5-week strike in California and Hawaii that affected our members, employees, and communities.

We appreciate everyone who came together to support our members and patients during these strikes.

While these were challenging times for everyone involved, we remained steadfast in our responsibility to be affordable to our members and communities while reaching a fair agreement that included meaningful investment in our people. We are pleased the 52 ratified agreements achieve this critical balance.

What this means: This outcome is positive for our employees, our members and patients, and Kaiser Permanente. Our decision in January to move unresolved national bargaining topics from the national table to local tables helped break the gridlock and provided a clear path to completing these agreements.

We will now begin the work to implement these new contracts and to modernize the future of the Labor Management Partnership — ensuring it remains true to its roots and is mutually beneficial, delivering results for employees, our members, and Kaiser Permanente.

Thank you for all that you do. With these agreements now ratified, we can focus on the future together and on continuing to provide high-quality, affordable care for our members and communities.