With Mobilized Members, Healthcare Workers Win Contract

After a five year fight, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) ratified contracts at all four Kaiser Permanente units in California late last year.

Working without a contract since 2011, members were poised to hold an open-ended strike at 50 facilities in Northern California just before the tentative agreements were reached.

Kaiser is the largest Health Maintenance Organization in the country. In 2014, the “non-profit” company reported $60 billion in revenue and $3 billion in net income. Its CEO, Bernard Tyson, rakes in about $10 million annually, according to Beyond Chron.

Despite its wealth, Kaiser chronically understaffed units, putting patients’ lives in danger, and denied workers’ collective bargaining rights and pensions. In response, workers went on strike four times over the past five years, engaging in two one-day strikes, one three-day strike and a weeklong statewide strike.

With community support, workers published a white paper, “Care Delayed, Care Denied: Kaiser Permanente’s Failure to Provide Timely and Appropriate Mental Health Services.” They also joined in a class-action lawsuit against Kaiser for violating California’s mental healthcare delivery laws – and won.

By California law, mental health patients must receive a certain amount of treatment – which Kaiser was failing to provide. As a result, the company was fined $4 million by state regulators.