MESSAGE TO OUR
EMPLOYEES
Three responses were shared in the 20th bargaining session.
This message was sent on behalf of Lionel Sims, interim senior vice president, Human Resources, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals; and Priya Smith, chief employee human resources officer, The Permanente Medical Group; to Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California mental health and addiction medicine professionals on Tuesday, November 11.
To our mental health and addiction medicine professionals,
On Monday, November 10, Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers bargaining teams met for their 20th bargaining session to negotiate a new contract for our Northern California mental health and addiction medicine employees.
Kaiser Permanente and the NUHW bargaining team used the morning to review the list of 19 open items and confirm their alignment. Currently, there are 9 open items for which we owe answers to NUHW. We’re awaiting responses from NUHW on 10 open items.
We provided NUHW with a counterproposal for Professional Hours (Article 15), adopting some language proposed by the union.
We also communicated that we intend to stand on our last proposal for Retirement Plans (Article 25), which already includes a 100% match of eligible employee contributions (up to 1.25% of an employee’s salary) into the tax deferred retirement savings plan. This is in addition to the defined benefit pension plan also provided.
The NUHW bargaining team shared that they’re standing on their last proposal for New Technologies (a letter of understanding).
We’ll meet again Thursday, November 13, after which there will be a 3-week break in bargaining. We’ll return to the table on Monday, December 8, and Tuesday, December 16. We again shared that we’re open to additional dates in December as needed.
We continue to bargain in good faith, with a steadfast focus on reaching an agreement that supports a positive working environment for our employees, while also enabling greater access to mental health care.
We appreciate all you do to provide leading mental health care to our members and patients, helping them live healthier lives.
For more information, visit kp.org/nuhwbargaining.