Kaiser Permanente, unions reach labor deal to avert strike
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An alliance of unions representing 50,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in California, Oregon and six other states called off a strike notice after reaching a tentative labor deal Saturday with the health care network.
The Alliance of Health Care Unions and Kaiser Permanente jointly announced the agreement, staving off a potentially crippling strike in which 32,000 employees, most of them in Southern California, threatened to walk off the job this coming Monday to protest understaffing and wage cuts for new hires.
Additional members of the alliance, comprised of 21 local unions, authorized a one-day “sympathy strike” on Nov. 18.
Agreement on the four-year contract includes annual wage increases, while maintaining health benefits for employees, and new staffing language to continue to protect employees and patients, the statement said.
The alliance said it has more than 35,000 member employees in California; 6,300 in Oregon and Washington; 2,100 in Colorado; 2,300 in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia; 3,000 in Georgia; and 1,900 in Hawaii.
