Kaiser Permanente Archives

Unions across six states ratified new agreements with Kaiser Permanente after the health care giant backed off demands for a two-tier system.

The massive strike was averted when management dropped its anti-union two tier demand and agreed to raise wages 10% over the next four years.

Bargaining has rarely been so contentious at Kaiser, which for decades touted itself as a union partner and model employer.

Units totaling over 34,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in Oregon and California have signaled they’re ready to strike after 10 days notice.

Increasingly, Kaiser’s union partnership appears to be unraveling, and for the second time in two years, it could be nearing a strike.

Is Kaiser’s reputation as a model union employer about to end? In bargaining, it’s now proposing to pay new hires dramatically lower wages.

OFNHP says understaffing is leading to high turnover at in Sunnyside’s Emergency Department—40 nurses (57%) have left in the last year.

Kaiser RN Jodi Barschow was elected to lead OFNHP at the head of a reform slate. Incumbent Adrienne Enghouse placed third.

The union is leaving the recently-formed Alliance of Health Care Unions as of Jan. 1

A tentative deal would raise wages and limit outsourcing.