Kaiser strike settled: Health provider reaches labor pact with 85,000 workers after strike

A week after a three-day strike involving 75,000 workers, Kaiser Permanente and the unions representing employees on Friday announced they'd reached a tentative agreement for a new labor pact that will deliver pay raises and higher minimum wages.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and Kaiser Permanente said the deal will increase wages 21% over four years for existing workers and establish a minimum hourly wage of $25 for California workers and $23 for employees elsewhere in the nation.

The unions said the deal also includes language that protects workers from their jobs being outsourced. The deal also calls for hiring new workers and provides training and skill development for existing workers.

The tentative deal covers 85,000 workers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Workers will begin to vote Oct. 18 on the new labor deal. If ratified, a new contract would become effective Oct. 1.

Both sides credited Julie Su, the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, who traveled to California Thursday to participate in an all-night bargaining session, for helping resolve lingering issues.

"What they did wasn't easy, and it was historic," Su said. "It may not always look pretty, but unions have, throughout our nation's history, built the middle class. You hear the president (Biden) say this all the time, and it's through agreements like this one."

The strike at one of the nation's largest nonprofit providers was the latest in a series of actions involving healthcare workers frustrated by taxed staffing, lower-than-desired pay and strained working conditions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Kaiser, which is headquartered in Oakland, California, combines health insurance coverage and health care services for nearly 13 million people.

“Millions of Americans are safer today because tens of thousands of dedicated healthcare workers fought for and won the critical resources they need and that patients need,” said Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. “This historic agreement will set a higher standard for the healthcare industry nationwide.”

Why did Kaiser employees strike?

Last week, the coalition representing workers in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C. initiated what the unions described as the nation's largest-ever strike of healthcare workers. The unions cited "unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels" at Kaiser hospitals and facilities and demanded across-the-board raises and a $25 per hour minimum wage for workers over the next four years.

Last week, employees formed strike lines to picket outside Kaiser hospitals and medical offices in California, Colorado, Washington and Oregon over three days. Workers in Virginia and Washington, D.C. launched a one-day strike and returned to work on Oct. 5.

The vast majority of the striking workers were employed in California, where they formed picket lines outside more than three dozen hospitals and facilities in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento area, Central Valley and Southern California.

How did the strike affect patients?

The strike disrupted routine operations and Kaiser warned some non-emergency and elective services would be rescheduled. Kaiser brought in contract workers to fill shifts to compensate for a wide variety of workers to fill shifts.

Striking employees included vocational nurses and certified nursing assistants, technicians who assist with X-rays and other imaging to diagnose disease, optometrists, surgery and pharmacy technicians, respiratory therapists, medical and dental assistants, behavioral health workers, dietary workers, call center and teleservice workers, housekeepers and others.

The two sides met again in a bargaining session Thursday and announced a tentative deal Friday morning. On Oct. 9, the unions had signaled they were prepared to organize a second strike that would last up to one week in November. But with a tentative deal in hand, the unions withdrew their notices for the planned strike.

Kaiser deal values health care workers 'not just in words'

Su was pivotal in advancing talks and brought a "fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective" to what had become intractable negotiations, said Dave Regan, president of the SEIU-UHW, one of the unions.

"What she really provided was leadership," Regan said.

Su said the tentative deal demonstrated the power of collective bargaining, and set a standard for health providers and workers nationwide.

"We saw (healthcare) workers put the country on their backs through a global pandemic and get us through," Su said. "This is a really historic example of what it means to truly value them, not just in words."

Kaiser strike settled. What's next?

In addition to pay raises and higher hourly minimums, Kaiser workers will be eligible for annual bonuses that will be partially linked to the health of patients. Among other criteria, the amount employees can earn in bonuses will depend on two clinical outcomes − reducing blood pressure among patients and maximizing preventive vaccines such as annual flu shots for millions of Kaiser patients, Regan, of SEIU-UHW, said.

Even though Kaiser would raise wages for existing workers and new hires under the new deal, Kaiser officials said they will seek to shield employers and other customers from rising health costs.

Steve Shields, Kaiser's senior vice president of labor relations, said it's "not our intention that this agreement would have any impact on rates" paid by employers and consumers.

Shields said Kaiser decided to set the minimum hourly wage to $25 for California workers and $23 for employees elsewhere to offset the rising cost of living and inflation.

"We see the impact it's having on our employees, and we chose to reach an agreement on a first-time new minimum wage for Kaiser Permanente workers," Shields said.

Ken Alltucker is on X, formerly Twitter, at @kalltucker, or can be emailed at alltuck@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kaiser Permanente reaches new deal with 85,000 workers