The Kaiser Strike is not the whole of what is ailing U.S. health care
Thousands of Health Care Workers in the U.S. Trade Unions walked off the job on Wednesday morning to protest COVID-19
Health care workers at hundreds of Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical facilities across the U.S. walked off the job on Wednesday morning, in an effort to ramp up pressure on their employer to fix a staffing shortage that has intensified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unions say it is the largest health care strike in history. Kaiser, headquartered in Oakland, California, is one of the largest nonprofit health care providers in the United States, serving nearly 13 million patients. Kaiser workers in Virginia and Washington D.C. won’t be on strike for 24 hours, because most of them will be on strike for three days.
Hospitals and emergency departments will remain open during the strike, according to the health care provider. It said it is onboarding professionals who will service in critical care roles during the strike.
Kaiser has warned patients that non-emergency and elective services may be rescheduled. The organization is expanding its network of pharmacy locations to make sure that patients can get their medication if an outpatient pharmacy temporarily closes. Inpatient pharmacies at Kaiser hospitals will stay open.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (CSUGAR) : “Kaiser Permanente Historic Strike Workers and Their Families Have Walked Off the Job”
They’re the latest group of crucial workers to strike over work conditions and pay this year, after the Hollywood writers and the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, among others.
“Health care workers choose this profession because it’s a passion for them. It’s a calling,” said Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. Folks don’t like staying in jobs where they don’t feel like they can give the best patient care.
Kaiser refused to bargain in good faith in order to solve the staffing crisis, according to the unions. Kaiser denies these allegations.
The collective bargaining agreement for employees represented by a coalition of unions expired on September 30 without a new agreement in place. Despite progress on issues such as outsourcing and protections during talks over the weekend, the unions and Kaiser executives are still far apart on key sticking points.
According to the SEIU-UHW union, the two sides reached a tentative agreement on Monday that will increase the education fund by 40%.
How an Orchestra of Symphonies of Applause Made Kaiser Permanente a Better Place to Fail Down the Covid-19 Pandemic
Lucas said Kaiser’s commitment to ramping up hiring is a step in the right direction. But she said the health care provider isn’t taking into account the thousands of workers who keep leaving, adding that Kaiser needs to raise wages substantially to give people a reason to stay.
“The people of Kaiser Permanente have faced down the pandemic better than most frontline workers because we started from a different place,” Kaiser said.
In April 2020, when I would walk home after a long day treating patients in a New York City emergency room, an orchestra of pots and pans would erupt from seemingly every window to honor frontline workers. Nothing could make those early days easier for me and my co-workers, but the haphazard symphonies of appreciation we received kept us going. At that time, health care workers had every reason to hope that once the Covid-19 pandemic waned, long-overdue and much needed changes to our health care system would finally materialize.
