National AFL-CIO steps into fray between Kaiser and SEIU

PORTLAND, OR -- Members of Service Employees Local 49 on strike at Kaiser Permanente may soon be returning to work under an interim agreement being hammered out as this issue went to press.

For the past week a federal mediator has been holding marathon sessions -- not to discuss a new contract, but rather to put in place a three-week "cooling-off period," which would open the door for the national AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Department and top Kaiser brass to begin negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.

If approved by a vote of the membership, some 2,000 workers -- licensed practical nurses, medical and dental assistants, home health aides, cooks, housekeepers and other support staff -- would immediately return to work, said Shelley Herochik, field coordinator of Local 49. The support staff employees, who are some of the lowest-paid at Kaiser, walked out Sept. 2 after refusing to accept Kaiser's demand that they pick up 10 percent of the monthly cost of their benefit packages. The strike has impacted Kaiser facilities from Longview, Wash., to Salem.

"National AFL-CIO leaders and the folks at the top of Kaiser are looking out for the survival of this national partnership," said Herochik.

Since that historic labor-management agreement was reached several months ago, two bargaining units in Portland and another in California have gone on strike.

Union officials believe the continuation of the national partnership could very well hinge on the resolution of the labor dispute.

In Portland, it doesn't appear Kaiser is taking it very seriously.

According to Local 49, Kaiser brought in 60 staffers from Group Health Cooperative of Seattle to replace striking employees. It is also using hospital employees from southern California, Colorado and from temp agencies.

The replacement workers are receiving their normal salaries plus per diem, uniforms, hotel rooms, meals, and a $1,000 bonus, union officials said.

"Money doesn't seem to be a problem for Kaiser when it comes to scabs," said Kathy Schmidt, president of the Oregon Federation of Nurses, which represents Kaiser nurses. She said two nurses at Kaiser's Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas were disciplined for "not being friendly enough to the scabs." One was suspended for a day.

A dozen registered nurses at Sunnyside refused to cross Local 49's picket line on Sept. 9. Nurses said an influx of Spanish-speaking replacement housekeepers were compromising sterile areas and that other replacement workers didn't know how to operate equipment, making it unsafe for both patients and nurses.

"The nurses who stayed out gave two-days' notice to management, so none of the patients was abandoned," said Schmidt.

Local 49 has dispatched informational pickets to Group Health in Seattle, Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, and St. Vincent and Providence Medical Centers in Portland because those hospitals are using Kaiser employees and because they believe patients are being diverted to those facilities.

"We just want to let the public know how Kaiser's demands for cutbacks are driving standards down throughout the industry," Herochik said.

At a press conference Sept. 8, a half-dozen security guards refused to let a coalition of union officials into Kaiser's corporate headquarters in northeast Portland -- even after they had received clearance from Kaiser negotiator Jim Pruitt.

The coalition, which included Brad Witt, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, Jean Eilers Oregon field director of the national AFL-CIO, Rick Henson, secretary-treasurer of Local 49, and a half-dozen union leaders representing 10,000 Kaiser enrollees, wanted to give Michael Katcher, president of the HMO's Northwest Division, a petition urging him to back off on his demands for health benefit cuts.

After a 10-minute standoff they were allowed through. Inside, Pruitt called Kaiser's latest contract proposal "a race to the top," insisting that Local 49 members would see a net gain in compensation over the four-year life of the proposed contract.

At a rally at Kaiser headquarters Sept. 5 union members clashed briefly with security guards as they tried to enter the building. Several people received scrapes and bruises. "Kaiser isn't sparing a dime to get replacement workers in here and to hire security guards," said Herochik. "That money they are spending would buy a lot of health care coverage."