Dive Brief:
After more than six months on the picket line, approximately 2,400 Southern California-based mental health workers have struck a deal with Kaiser Permanente to secure a new contract, allowing them to return to work.
The contract is retroactive to September 2024 and will expire in 2028, according to a statement from the workers’ union the National Union of Healthcare Workers on Thursday. The agreement includes five guaranteed hours per week for full-time therapists to handle patient care tasks outside of appointments, a 20% raise over four years and a new pension plan.
Workers were mostly happy with the terms, although Adriana Webb, a medical social worker at Kaiser and a member of the NUHW bargaining committee said in a statement that, “We didn’t win everything.” The union argued therapists still earn less than Kaiser medical employees, and their new pension plan is less lucrative.
Dive Insight:
The deal comes more than six months after Kaiser’s mental health workforce in Southern California walked off the job in October, citing inadequate pay and time to prepare for appointments.
During that time, state officials leaned heavily on the nonprofit healthcare provider to end the strike, warning it was leading to patient care disruptions.
In December, a group of California state senators and California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas sent letters to Kaiser CEO Greg Adams urging the executive to negotiate a contract, warning patient appointments were being delayed or canceled while labor and management postponed bargaining.
Then in February, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called on the parties to pursue mediation, stating California needed its mental health workforce in full capacity as it recovered from devastating wildfires.
“Getting our full behavioral health workforce back to work gives us the best chance to address the needs that will undoubtedly grow in the weeks and months to come in the Los Angeles region and elsewhere,” he said.
Still, the strike continued until May 4, when parties announced a tentative agreement. Workers voted to ratify the new contract on May 8, with a vote of 1,799 to 24, according to the union.
“The terms are substantially better terms than what Kaiser was offering prior to the strike. But the wage increases will still leave mental health therapists at Kaiser making up to 50 percent less than comparable workers on the medical side, such as physical therapists,” the union said in a news release Thursday.
The union also did not achieve its goal of securing seven dedicated hours for patient tasks, which the news release said workers in Northern California receive.
A spokesperson for Kaiser expressed frustration that the union continued to attack the provider even as parties announced an agreement.
“It’s disappointing that in the same announcement of the contract ratification, the union continues to disparage our organization and misrepresent the facts,” the spokesperson said. “Throughout bargaining, we continued to protect our patients’ access to appointments, and to balance wage and benefit increases with the need to keep care affordable for our members.”
The strike marks the third large national work stoppage for Kaiser in recent history.
Approximately 2,000 mental health workers in Northern California waged a 10-week strike in 2022 in pursuit of dedicated time for patient care tasks, and more than 75,000 workers in various functions walked off the job in 2023 to try to get higher pay.
