Kaiser Permanente Hospital Reaches Agreement to End One of America's Largest Health Strikes

Kaiser Permanente employees on the first day of the strike, Oct. 4. Irfan Khan (Los Angeles Times / (Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)

Kaiser Permanente Hospital and unions have reached an agreement in principle to end one of the largest health care worker strikes in the United States. Some 75,000 workers at the center, which is also one of the country's largest insurers, had begun a three-day protest demanding better wages and improved conditions. This was the first collective bargaining agreement negotiated after the coronavirus pandemic. The conflict affected hospital operations in seven states, where Kaiser serves 13 million people. The agreement in principle includes a wage increase of 21% divided annually until 2027. This defuses new protests called for early November and prevents thousands of other health workers from joining who will see their collective agreements expire at the end of October.

The tentative agreement raises the minimum for California workers to $25 an hour. In all other states, employees will earn $23 per hour. The pact also includes an increase of 21% that will be divided over the next four years, which lasts for the duration of the new agreement. Kaiser Permanente, a private nonprofit organization, is committed to offering its workers protections from outsourcing and outsourcing. The agreement must be ratified by the workers in the coming weeks.

"This historic agreement raises the bar for the entire healthcare industry nationwide," said Caroline Lucas, executive director of Kaiser Permanente's coalition of unions. "Millions of Americans are safer now because tens of thousands of dedicated workers fought back and won resources that were vital to them and patients."

The agreement was announced this morning by the parties on social media. The coalition, which represents about 85,000 workers, has welcomed the involvement of Julie Su, the Biden administration's secretary of labor. Minister Su has held the position temporarily since March of this year, waiting for Republicans in the Senate to vote on her appointment. "His has been instrumental in moving the dialogue forward and facilitating a successful conclusion," Sarah Levesque, secretary of section two of one of the unions that make up the workers' advocacy group, told the Los Angeles Times.

Biden has acknowledged the agreement reached in a statement where he shows his support for the workers' organizations. "We owe a great debt to health workers ... These workers and all the auxiliaries kept our hospitals and the country going in the dark months of the pandemic. They supported us during one of our toughest times," said the president, who last month became the first occupant of the White House to join a picket line in support of auto workers.

The unions represent nurses, health assistants, administrative staff, cafeteria and cleaning employees, laboratory workers and optometrists, among others. They demanded a minimum wage of $25 per hour and increases of 7% in the first two years of the contract and 6.25% in the remaining two years. The final settlement is similar to their demands.

The Oakland, Northern California-based company had revenue of $2.100 billion in the latest quarter. Kaiser had made a counteroffer with wages between $21 and $23 an hour, depending on the location of employees, and pledged to hire 10,000 new workers to offload the amount of work to its workforce. The company says that since 2022 it has added 51,000 workers to its centers, located in several states.

The union, the Western chapter of the United Healthcare Workers, had accused Kaiser Permanente of bargaining in "bad faith." This led to the dialogue between the parties becoming bogged down and the labour conflict erupting. The first day of strike was October 4. Thousands of employees left the centers where they worked from six in the morning to begin picketing at the doors of hospitals.

These protests were mostly followed in the western United States. Employees in Colorado, Oregon and Washington picketed for three days, as did workers in California, where most of Kaiser Permanente's business is concentrated. Smaller demonstrations, with about 180 toilets and only in one day, were held in Virginia and Washington D.C.. The coalition of unions had notified the company that if no agreement was reached they would hold further protests between 1 and 8 November. Another 3,000 hospital workers in Seattle (Washington) also reportedly joined the strike, as their current contract expires on October 31.

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