National Coalition bargaining begins. Read the session 1 kickoff update.
This message was sent to employees represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
On April 18, Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions kicked off negotiations for a new national agreement. The 3-day session focused on ways to address our staffing challenges and improve our Labor Management Partnership.
We are grateful for all you do for our patients, members, and each other. During this bargaining session, you shared your concerns about staffing and told us stories about its impact on you. We listened. We sincerely thank you for speaking up.
There is a nationwide health care staffing crisis, but through our partnership, we know we can meet our staffing challenges together. We are pleased to report that Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition agreed to establish a joint goal of hiring 10,000 new people for Coalition-represented jobs in 2023 and speeding up the time it takes to fill vacancies. We will do this by working together to streamline hiring and remove barriers to quickly filling open job postings.
We have already been working hard to hire new employees. We have a lot going for us, because when we make offers to external candidates for Coalition-represented roles, 96% of them say yes — and they tend to stay. In the past 12 months, the rate of employees leaving Kaiser Permanente was significantly less than the rate reported industrywide, showing our employees consider Kaiser Permanente a best place to work. The work we will do together to implement our agreed-upon goal will take us to the next level.
Our next bargaining session is scheduled for May 16 to 18, when we will update the bargaining teams on our progress and also discuss Kaiser Permanente’s financial performance.
View this 1-page information sheet on health care staffing.