Health
Kaiser Strike 2022: Northern California well being employees to strike
Picket strains can be in Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — 2,000 psychological well being employees are anticipated to be on strike in Northern California by 6 a.m. Monday.
The strike comes after negotiations between the Nationwide Union of Well being Employees (NUHW) and Kaiser Permanente fell via on Saturday. It contains psychologists, social employees, marriage and household therapists and chemical dependency counselors in Northern California and the Central Valley.
“We’ve been telling Kaiser executives since Day One which this isn’t about cash,” mentioned Jennifer Browning, a licensed scientific social employee for Kaiser in Roseville and a member of the union’s bargaining group. “It’s about our skilled integrity and our skill to offer care that may assist sufferers get higher.”
In the meantime, Kaiser Permanente informed ABC10 in a press release that they are ready to return to the bargaining desk to achieve an settlement.
“This strike is an pointless tactic to extend the union’s leverage on the bargaining desk making it tougher, not simpler, to ship psychological well being care,” mentioned Deb Catsavas, senior vp of Human Assets at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
Why is there a strike?
Negotiations between the 2 teams fell via on Saturday, resulting in an open-ended strike from the union.
In keeping with the union, a wage provide was accepted however variations arose associated to elevated staffing and reductions in wait occasions for psychological well being remedy appointments.
In keeping with Kaiser, the important thing points have been relating to higher wages and a union demand “to extend the time therapists spend on duties aside from seeing sufferers.” This contains documentation, planning and different workplace actions.
What about clients?
Kaiser mentioned sufferers will get care from psychological well being employees who “select affected person wants over the strike” and from psychiatrists, scientific managers and different licensed professionals.
“We’ve additionally expanded our community of high-quality neighborhood suppliers and can proceed to prioritize pressing and emergency care. Some nonurgent appointments might should be rescheduled. Any affected person whose appointment could also be affected can be contacted immediately previous to the date of the appointment to make sure they obtain the care they want,” Catsavas mentioned.
The place are the picket strains?
NUHW has picket strains deliberate for the next areas on Monday.
- Fresno Medical Heart
7300 N. Fresno Road - Sacramento Medical Heart
2025 Morse Avenue - San Francisco Medical Heart
2425 Geary Boulevard - San Jose Medical Heart
275 Hospital Parkway
