Kaiser Permanente mental health workers are entering the fourth week of their strike as progress continues to stall on both sides of the bargaining table.
It has been 22 days since approximately 2,400 NUHW workers began their strike. They’re fighting for what their colleagues in Northern California received after the 2022 strike, including more off-commitment hours and higher pay.
“Our typical day consists of patient after patient coming in for hours. For me, each patient took 25 to 30 minutes,” said Linda Cortez, a therapist on strike. Ta. “We can see eight to 14 patients a day.”
The union said affected workers include psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, addiction treatment counselors, certified clinical counselors and marriage and family therapists who serve more than 4 million people across Southern California. This includes scholars, etc.
In a statement from Kaiser, the health care provider said it “continues to act decisively.” [its] “A commitment to provide high-quality mental health care and addiction treatment services,” and “For months, even before contract negotiations began, NUHW had threatened to strike.”
The union contract with Kaiser expired on September 30th.
Kaiser remains adamant that therapists’ non-clinical care hours will not be reduced by nearly 50%, and said the number of appointments will be reduced by about 15,000 per month.
Kaiser also said the company already pays its therapists 18 percent above market wages and “will not agree to a new contract that would put them more than 40 percent above what their peers make across Southern California.” He also said.
Those on the picket lines say they are also concerned that patients will not receive the care they need while they are on strike.
“We don’t want to leave here,” Cortez said. “But we know it’s important to patient care, and our working conditions are not good enough to help the people we want to help.”
Kaiser said that’s not the case, and 60% of patients are receiving care from health care providers who are not on strike.
No negotiations between the union and Kaiser are scheduled at this time.
