BARGAINING UPDATE
March 12, 2025
NUHW walks away from mediation process
We will continue our focus on providing timely access to the high-quality, affordable care our members need and deserve.
The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) asked Kaiser Permanente to enter mediation. Throughout the contract bargaining process, the union made little to no movement on key issues. However, during the last bargaining session, we saw some progress, suggesting mediation could help us find a path to compromise to reach a fair agreement for our members and mental health professionals.
The mediation was scheduled from Monday, March 10, to Wednesday, March 12. We were disappointed when, on the second day, NUHW walked away from mediation, falsely claiming to their members afterwards that Kaiser Permanente was “not ready to negotiate” on their "strike priority" issues. These allegations are disingenuous and misleading, as it was NUHW who chose to suspend mediation.
We have been clear and transparent at the bargaining table that we cannot guarantee more than 5 hours per week for documentation, planning, and preparation time, as it would result in losing thousands of patient appointments per month. We have been clear and transparent that we will continue to stand by the generous defined contribution plan we offer to our NUHW-represented employees in Southern California. We have also been clear that we value our mental health professionals, and further enhanced our offer for across-the-board wage increases from 18% to 19% over the 4 years of the contract.
We have repeatedly made — and improved — contract proposals during bargaining in an effort to reach an agreement. However, in 5 months of bargaining, NUHW has made very little movement on the key bargaining issues.
We had hoped to find a compromise through mediation. Instead, we are left to consider our next steps after yet another unsuccessful attempt to resolve our differences because the union will not engage constructively. Instead, NUHW is disrupting the care of our patients through their unnecessary and counterproductive open-ended strike. We will continue our focus on providing timely access to the high-quality, affordable care our members need and deserve.
