October 3, 2024
Kaiser Permanente's response to NUHW strike authorization
Despite bargaining progress, NUHW announced its members have authorized a future strike.
Despite ongoing progress during bargaining sessions with Kaiser Permanente, the union that represents our nonphysician mental health and addiction medicine professionals in Southern California, National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), announced that its members have authorized a strike. It is important to understand that this announcement does not mean there will be a strike. In fact, a strike authorization is often used as a bargaining tactic designed to exert pressure.
While the threat of a strike may serve NUHW’s own reputational interests, it only distracts from the work we need to do together to reach a fair agreement and creates unnecessary concern for our members who count on our expert mental health professionals for their quality care.
With 4 more bargaining dates on the calendar, including tomorrow (October 4), we are confident we can reach an agreement without unnecessary disruption to patient care.
We have put forward a strong offer that not only increases wages, which on average are already 18% above market, but also enhances our industry-leading comprehensive benefits for our mental health professionals.
Highlights of our proposal include:
- An 18% wage increase over 4 years
- Enhanced Retiree Medical Plan (adding even more value to the subsidized retirement health plan Kaiser Permanente provides)
- Defined contribution retirement plan — up to 9% employer contribution
- Six hours a week of time for planning and preparation, with four of these hours protected
Working with our outstanding mental health and addiction medicine professionals, Kaiser Permanente is steadfast in our goal to build a better model of mental health care for our members and the communities we serve. We have invested more than $1 billion since 2020 to expand mental health capabilities in California — including more therapists, more resources, and shorter wait times — and we know there is more work to do.
While we continue to bargain in good faith, we recognize our obligation to our members to be well-prepared for the possibility of a disruption caused by the union. Kaiser Permanente takes any threat of a work stoppage seriously. We are making the necessary preparations to enable our members to have access to mental health and addiction medicine services if the union calls on our mental health professionals to walk away from their patients.
Kaiser Permanente has a long history of working successfully with labor unions. We now work with over 40 unions and employ the largest number of represented health care workers in the country. We understand give and take. We have already placed strong proposals on the table, and we are bargaining with the single-minded goal of reaching an agreement without the disruption of a strike.
