UFCW strikes Kaiser

PORTLAND, OR -- A national labor-management cooperation project between organized labor and the Kaiser Permanente health maintenance giant has gotten off to a horrendous start. Some 270 members of Tigard-based United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 walked off the job Aug. 6 at 21 Kaiser facilities from Longview, Wash., to Salem, Ore., after a marathon 18-hour bargaining session failed.

As this issue of the Northwest Labor Press was going to press, the union reported that a federal mediator was attempting to get both sides back to the bargaining table on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

Gene Pronovost, president of the 17,000-member union, said Local 555 would return with a new lead negotiator.

"We'll go at this with a fresh start in hopes of getting a settlement," he said.

Meantime, the union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Kaiser is terminating the employer-paid medical and dental plan coverage for employees who go on strike. Local 555 said the striking employees are entitled to coverage for at least the remainder of August.

On strike are imaging services technicians trained in X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, mammographies, ultrasound, EKGs and EEGs. They have been working without a contract for more than 10 months.

The main issue in the strike is Kaiser's insistence that employees pay higher point-of-service fees and share in the cost of monthly health insurance premiums. Kaiser is also demanding a three-year wage freeze.

"They came to the table seeking $100 a month out-of-pocket in benefit takeaways," said Bob Patterson, director of bargaining for Local 555. "Ten months later they are seeking $100 a month in benefit takeaways. They have not moved."

Pronovost said that pharmacy technicians at Kaiser who are covered under a separate agreement with Local 555 "was settled earlier this year without the drastic health care reductions."

Jim Pruitt, Portland labor relations boss at Kaiser, told the Northwest Oregon Labor Council's Executive Board that with the exception of the pharmacy tech agreement, all of the latest agreements settled with other unions contain the 10 percent benefit reduction.

That's not true, according to Portland Service Employees Local 49.

Shelley Herochik, field services coordinator for Local 49, said that none of the northern California unions at Kaiser have accepted the benefit reduction.

Local 49 represents 2,000 Kaiser employees, including licensed practical nurses, medical and dental assistants, home health aides, cooks, housekeepers and others. That bargaining unit was hours away from a strike when a tentative agreement was reached -- but ultimately was rejected.

Local 49 and Kaiser returned to the bargaining table Aug. 11 with little progress and will meet again Aug. 21.

"We will be working on analyzing new financial data as we prepare additional economic proposals," Herochik said.

Rick Henson, secretary-treasurer of Local 49, met last weekend in Chicago with Betty Bednarczyk, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, along with leaders of most of the unions which represent Kaiser workers in the United States. Also at that meeting were Ed Clay, secretary-treasurer of Local 555, and Kathy Schmidt, president of the Oregon Federation of Nurses Local 5017.

The unions' national leadership team met with Kaiser management on Thursday, Aug. 14 (after this issue went to press), pledging to make the Portland strike with Local 555 and the contract dispute with Local 49 a "priority issue," said Henson.

Bednarczyk sent a message back that labor's side of the Kaiser partnership was committed to supporting Local 555 and Local 49 in fighting Kaiser's "unjust demands for premium cost-sharing."

Because health insurance premiums are pre-paid, UFCW is asking Kaiser patients to make appointments "and pack the house." If the giant health maintenance organization cannot take care of patient needs -- or union members are uncomfortable crossing a picket line -- the union is asking Kaiser patients to demand that they be sent to another facility "at Kaiser's expense."

The union is also starting to communicate with union health and welfare trusts to ask them to consider opting out of Kaiser coverage because, with imaging technicians on strike, it cannot provide the service it has promised.

UFCW Local 555 picket lines are currently up at these Kaiser facilities: 4855 SW Western Ave., Beaverton; 3325 N. Interstate Ave., Portland; 2400 Lancaster Dr., Salem; 1230 7th Ave., Longview, Wash.; Cascade Park, 12607 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver; 2211 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver; Sunnyside Medical Center, 10180 SE Sunnyside Road, Clackamas; and Bess Kaiser Hospital, 5055 N. Greeley Ave., Portland.