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April 22, 2025
The facts in our NUHW negotiations: April 22
Despite what the leaders of NUHW claim, the union is demanding more pay to care for fewer patients.
Kaiser Permanente has been in contract negotiations with the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), the union that represents our mental health professionals in Southern California, for 9 months. Months before bargaining began last July, NUHW was announcing its intention to go on strike. That did not deter us from bargaining fully and fairly in an effort to reach a mutually-beneficial agreement.
NUHW is demanding significantly higher pay to care for fewer patients. At Kaiser Permanente it is our responsibility to balance providing a generous contract for our employees with keeping high-quality care accessible and affordable for our members.
NUHW has continued to focus on 3 primary issues:
Wages: Kaiser Permanente’s pay philosophy is to pay as much as 10% above local wages to attract and retain the best people. Our employees represented by NUHW in Southern California are currently paid significantly more than others in the market.
- Psychologists’ pay averages more than $160,000 per year. With benefits, the average total is $190,000.
- Clinical social workers’ pay averages approximately $125,000 per year. With benefits, the average total is $170,000.
- We have offered to increase wages an additional 19% over the next 4 years. NUHW is demanding wage increases that would put therapists’ pay more than 30% above their peers in the Southern California market.
Non-patient Care Time: We understand that therapists need designated time to prepare for appointments, for charting, and for professional development. Our offer provides up to 7 hours per week for non-patient care activities such as planning, preparation, coordination, and administrative work, with 5 of those hours protected. This is a generous arrangement not commonly available to those practicing outside of Kaiser Permanente. NUHW wants therapists to spend nearly 50% of each week not seeing patients, leading to thousands fewer appointments every month — at a time when mental health care demand is increasing and access to patient care is critical for our members.
Pension: NUHW claims they don’t have a pension, but that is not true. Kaiser Permanente provides our mental health therapists in Southern California with a generous defined contribution pension plan, to which we contribute up to 9%, nearly double the national average.
We’ve worked hard to ensure our mental health care is in compliance with state requirements. More than 60% of NUHW-represented employees did not strike or have since returned to work, and together with our expanded network of more than 13,000 providers, we are ensuring that patients in crisis receive care 24/7, urgent needs are addressed within 48 hours, and patients with non-urgent needs are seen on average within 6 days — a standard that exceeds state requirements.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest unionized workforces in the United States, with more than 40 unions representing over 80% of our employees. We are among the most labor-friendly employers in the industry. We offer our employees industry-leading wages, generous benefits, and opportunities for advanced training and professional development.
We remain open to working with NUHW to resolve our differences and enable our mental health clinicians to return to caring for the patients who need them.
