More than 2,000 mental health workers at Southern California’s Kaiser Permanente hospital are planning to walk off the job, their union said Friday.
The National Union of Healthcare Workers gave a 10-day strike notice to the health care system, a union representative said, starting a countdown to an open-ended strike, involving psychologists, social workers, addiction counselors and family therapists.
The unionized members, who authorized the strike last week, claim a lack of sufficient staffing within Kaiser Permanente forces patients to wait too long for mental health care.
“We want to be with our patients, but we can’t keep working in a system that doesn’t meet their needs and treats us like assembly line workers trying to meet a quota,” said Lisa Delgadillo, a licensed clinical social worker for Kaiser in Fontana.
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Another point of contention is that when mental health workers in Northern California signed a four-year contract with Kaiser following a 10-week strike, the hospital system agreed to increase staffing but only for Northern California hospitals and clinics.
Southern California workers are hoping Kaiser will extend the same agreements to their workplaces as well, the union said.
The mental health professionals serve an estimated 4.8 million Kaiser Permanente members across Southern California from San Diego to Bakersfield.
Contract negotiations will still continue through next week as the union members and the hospital system are scheduled to meet Tuesday and Thursday.
In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it believes it can reach an agreement with the union as the entities anticipate two more bargaining dates. The health care provider claimed the union "presented a proposal that could result in a full-time therapist spending 40% or more of their work week not seeing patients."
"Our offer has no takeaways. It not only increases wages, which on average are already 18% above market, but also enhances the comprehensive benefits our mental health professionals enjoy plus provides therapists more non-patient time for planning and preparation."
As part of Kaiser's proposal, employees would get an 18% wage increase over four years, an enhanced retiree medical plan and six hours a week of time for preparation and planning. In the meantime, it assured patients that it's ready to continue providing care in the event a strike takes place.
"Should an NUHW strike occur, we have comprehensive plans in place to minimize potential disruptions," its statement continued. "Kaiser Permanente will continue providing mental health care during a work stoppage. Our goal is to ensure timely care. Patients will have the opportunity to be seen by another professional in our extensive network if their regular provider is engaged in a work stoppage. If changes to appointments are necessary, we will notify individuals in advance."
Kaiser added that its hospitals, emergency departments, and medical offices will remain open and operating as usual.
