MESSAGE TO OUR
EMPLOYEES
Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers exchange counterproposals.
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 Wednesday, September 17.
Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers met on September 16 to continue negotiating a new agreement for our Northern California mental health and addiction medicine professionals.
We continue to bargain in good faith and are committed to reaching an agreement that benefits our patients, members, and you.
During the session, NUHW representatives presented a revised proposal removing some provisions that are redundant to the obligations we already have to our regulatory agencies regarding Job Duties and Workload Distribution. We appreciate the reconsideration.
On the topic of new-to-return patient appointment ratios, we acknowledge the NUHW bargaining team moving from their original position. However, our proposal to eliminate the ratio provides the flexibility needed to manage patient care needs within the new regulatory framework of SB 221, implemented in 2022. This approach would be an evolutionary step forward and has been effective in other parts of our mental health care practice, including in Southern California. We will continue to discuss this matter in future bargaining sessions.
Kaiser Permanente’s economic proposal — 17% across-the-board wage increases over 4 years — remains on the table, with wage increases that will keep our mental health professionals among the highest paid in Northern California. We are awaiting NUHW’s response to this proposal.
Our priority continues to center on supporting the evolution of our mental health delivery model and our need for greater operational flexibility to ensure patients can easily access high-quality care at the right time.
Both teams agreed on 5 additional bargaining dates in October: October 3, 7, 15, 27, and 30.
The next bargaining session is on Friday, September 19. We plan to share another update after that session. Thank you for everything you do every day for our patients, members, and the communities we serve.
For more information, visit kp.org/nuhwbargaining.