![]() Gavin Newsom signs the bill into law, KP will have to comply. And she said KP’s turnover rate is one-third the industry rate, in part because of “excellent pay and benefits.”Įarlier this month, California lawmakers passed legislation to gradually raise the minimum wage for health care workers in the state to $25 an hour. Peasnall said KP has already filled more than 9,700 out of 10,000 new coalition-represented jobs the two sides had agreed to create this year. Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. ![]() Unions want KP to invest more in education, training, and recruitment to fill current openings and create a pipeline of future workers. “Imagine if I’m putting this baby in the system and your wife shows up in pain, crying, but I’m not there to register her,” De La Paz said. Miriam De La Paz, a secretary in the labor and delivery department of KP’s Downey Medical Center in Southern California and a union steward, said when she is alone on a shift, she is responsible for two labor and delivery stations as well as triage, where patients are prioritized based on the acuity of their cases. Workers say many of the positions that became vacant during the pandemic still have not been filled. The pandemic was particularly brutal for health care workers who often worked long hours in grueling conditions, as colleagues fell ill, died, or quit. They argue that management is not moving quickly enough to fill positions and that the quality of care has suffered as patients, some with serious illnesses, often wait months for appointments, face extremely long waits in the emergency room, and experience delays in hospital admissions.Īn industrywide labor shortage hangs heavily over the contract talks. And, they say, KP hospitals and clinics are severely understaffed, forcing workers to put in long hours and fill multiple roles. The unions say their lowest-paid workers can barely make ends meet in the face of soaring prices for food, gasoline, and other essentials. The coalition, which is pushing for uniform wage increases across all regions, contends that management’s proposal is part of a “ divide-and-conquer strategy.” Peasnall said the union’s stance “would prevent us from addressing fair market wages where we need to pay more to attract and retain the best people.” KP prefers varying wage increases across regions, since the cost of living can vary sharply. KP executives agree there should be an organization-wide floor, but they’ve proposed $21. The coalition wants a $25-an-hour minimum wage across the company. 30 and, after months of talks, the two sides still disagree over pay and staffing. “Our front-line health care workers are fed up, and we really need Kaiser executives to seize the initiative and move forward on resolving the contract.” “We will be bargaining with Kaiser up until the day we go on strike,” said Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents about 40% of KP’s workforce. You’re not going to get meals,” August said.Īrlene Peasnall, Kaiser Permanente’s senior vice president for human resources, said the Oakland, California-based health care giant’s goal is “to reach a mutually beneficial agreement before any work stoppage occurs.” But she also said the nonprofit has plans in place to blunt the impact of a walkout. You risk problems with infection control. “You are immediately subject to problems with not being able to get patients in and out of the hospital. If workers walk off their jobs, “it will start to impact patient care right away,” said John August, director of health care and partner programs at Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, who is a former head of the union coalition currently negotiating with KP. ![]() The unions represent a wide range of KP health workers, including lab technicians, phlebotomists, pharmacists, optometrists, social workers, orderlies, and support staff.Ī strike, if it occurs, would affect most of Kaiser Permanente’s 39 hospitals and 622 medical offices across the U.S., and would disrupt care for many of its nearly 13 million patients. 4-7, disrupting care for KP patients in California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Unless a deal is struck, more than 75,000 health workers will walk out for three days from Oct. Please tell us what it has been like for you as you have sought and received care, including the good and the bad, the obstacles and the successes. We want to hear about your experiences and, with your permission, may incorporate your story into our coverage.
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