Kaiser Strike by Mental Health workers dragged, puts us a record- calm

From Joe GarciaCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Nearly six months in their dispute over a union against South California Kaiser Permanta, eight mental health Care workers joined last week in an organized five -day hunger strike to emphasize their cause.

“Kaiser is trying to starve us, this is clear – so, give them what they want,” says Adriana Web, a member of the National Union of Health Workers, who chose to withstand only water and electrolytes from Monday morning to Friday night. “I feel hungry for justice. I feel hungry for change. How is this different?”

Now deals with the longest A blow to mental health In US history, workers in Southern California are looking for a new trade union contract, which will include:

• more apparent time between the therapeutic sessions to track the patient
• Restoration of retirement benefits that were removed from new contracts for employees in 2015.
• Life Cost adjustments

After a long list of democratic members of the state Installation and Senate Kaiser wrote in December, urging him to accept the “reasonable proposals of the Union Treaty” – and after the written request of Guvin New New Governor for the two countries “to prioritize the common good Steinberg.

Kaiser’s executives threw their hands up and came out of mediation conversations on March 11, when the Union continued to press its three main contractual questions. Today, negotiation negotiations are planned.

Steinberg mediated with a similar open strike for mental health workers in Northern California in California in 2022, which lasted for 10 weeks and led to Kaiser’s response to most Union requests.

“We know that Kaiser can provide all these things if he wants,” says a web, a medical social worker at the Infectious Disease Department, which stood on the picket line in front of Kaiser’s medical center in Los Angeles on Sunset Boulevard. “They already provide it to our colleagues from Northern California and everything we want is the same thing. Kaiser still cannot explain why we deserve less or our patients deserve less.”

In a written answer to Calmatters’ questions, Kaiser Permanent spokesman Terry Kanaks discussed Kaiser’s overall engagement to work with more than 40 alliances representing 80% of his employees.

“Each of the 80 contracts is different and each reflects the differences in operational needs, the economy and salaries of the local market, the professional classifications of employees in every local and many other factors,” Kanaki said.

“Our goal is and has always been to reach an agreement that makes Kaiser Permanence the best place to provide and receive care. We have done – and we have repeatedly improved – our proposals during negotiation in an attempt to reach an agreement. For almost nine months of negotiation, NUHW has made very little movement questions.”

Although he is not familiar with specific details of the Norcal strike in 2022 or current strikes of Socal, the professor of health and economy of the University of Southern California has given his review of today’s healthcare climate.

“Northern California has the highest wages in the country,” he said. “I think it’s 20 points higher than LA – maybe 25%. So there are economic reasons why there are differences. Economist would say,” Mental health worker, you want these benefits? He moved to San Francisco. “

“And many employers are reducing retirement benefits these days. Ten or 15 years ago, pension benefits were much more worked throughout the board. Kaiser could easily afford to give them these benefits and not think twice, but more than these workers. This is the effect of pulsations?”

Melnik also speculates that the negotiating power of health workers has decreased because the Covid pandemic, which prompted the demand for their services, somewhat disappeared.

Kaiser could easily afford to give them these advantages and not think twice, but he is bigger than only these workers. This is the effect of pulsation, right?

Professor of Health Finance and Economics of USC Glenn Melnick

From April 8 to April 12, the hungry attackers spent eight -hour days with their members of their Picket Union and fasted together every night at the church of West Hollywood. Sleeping in a public space, barely large enough for eight air mattresses nestled next to the piano to the back wall, they shared a bath and spin, a spirit in a motel room in the neighborhood.

Pre -cleaned medical, they receive daily checks by wellness from nurses of the volunteer union.

“At the moment I have the feeling that I can go for another month,” said Gian Sandoval, supported by their mattress from their mattress in the morning on April 11, the fourth day of the hunger strike. “So, test me, Kaiser!”

“Kaiser says it is an employer of the Union, but all we see is to fall apart. All we see is the separation trying to part. But their efforts simply lead us to union.”

The Union Organizer Rachel Fush, who remained overnight with the hungry attackers in the church, expressed dissatisfaction with prolonged opposition.

“Kaiser has exceeded all our expectations in his unwillingness to bargain in good faith and get this as long as possible,” she said. “In southern California, they are about to start bargaining with the alliance, which is a huge group of alliances in Kaiser and I think they are afraid that – when we win – it will set a precedent for other alliances to fight just as hard.”

Ida Valvidia, a psychiatric social worker at the Kaiser facility in Silmar, and Melissa Chavez, a medical social worker in Riverside, and they both started working for Kaiser before the 2015 contract contract, so that each of them has pension benefits. Still, they both chose to participate in the hunger strike.

“For people who have no pensions, I think this is unfair,” Valvidi said. “Why do I have a pension and you don’t? Because you started later? That doesn’t make sense to me. We’re equal.”

Chavez and her husband are on strike together since October 21st. “Kaiser members deserve justice and access to timely quality care,” she said. “Workers are experiencing high loads, inadequate and dangerous staff, lack of time, lack of instruments.”

The Hunger Strike Week began with the iconic Labor Labor and Activist Dolores Huerta, visiting the picks on April 8, two days before its 95th birthday. “I know you don’t just do this on your behalf,” said Huerta, surrounded by applause by Union members in his T -shirts Red Union. “In fact, you do this on behalf of all patients in Kaiser who do not receive the mental health services they deserve.”

The Union cites a recent 88-page report from the State Department of Management Health Care, which notes that Kaiser’s failure to eliminate 19 of the 20 violations in 2022 led to $ 200 million in state fines. The Union has also filed its own complaints stating that Kaiser Mismanages Triaage and the planning of patients’ appointment by hiring unlicensed clerical staff and using algorithmic programming.

They take out advertisements in the newspaper, saying that everything is fine-they provide adequate care to their patients and everything is first-class. It’s so quirky and amazing.

Hungry striker Nick Nunes, a therapist at Kaiser’s virtual medical center

“Despite NuHW’s constant efforts to mislead the public, the Ministry of Management Health Care (DMHC) has not established new disadvantages in our mental health,” said Kanakri’s statement. He continued to say that Kaiser met with the State Department, “Last week in our first quarterly review and demonstrated the extraordinary progress we have made on all the shortcomings outlined in the corrective work plan.”

“We are distrustful,” said hunger striker Nick Nunes, a therapist at the virtual Kaiser Medical Center who provides support for all patients in need of South California. “They take out ads in the document, saying that everything is fine-they provide adequate care to their patients and everything is first-class. This is so bizarre and incredible.”

Andrew Kane works as an associated clinical social worker at the Los Angeles Medical Center, where he now picked and fasting. “It’s a little strange, a little surreal,” he said, noting that he was seeing a patient in the world outside Kaiser. “Fortunately – or unfortunately – he didn’t notice me, so we didn’t have to have this interaction.”

Kane started in June 2024, so he strikes longer than he received Kaiser’s salary.

As The impact continued Without an end to October’s vision, many workers have returned to Kaiser due to financial problems. But some report the problems they see internally as they return to work.

“They are actually the ones who document all the things that are confused,” said hunger striker Cassandra Gutierrez-Tompson, a psychiatric social worker at the Kaiser Adapt virtual treatment program. “We have DMHC investigators who talk to many of their returned staff. Unfortunately, many of our managers are fighting them.

“So, many of our members are somehow scared, having to advocate for our patients. They are struggling with a different type of battle inside.”

Rage against machine guitarist and political work activist Tom Morelo joined Picketrs Kaiser on April 9 to perform a short acoustic kit, and US reporter Sydney Kamlager-Sovov and State Senator Maria Elena Durazo visited the attackers on April 11.

Hours later, they broke their fasting with religious leaders, passing around ceremonial bread for bread.
“We can’t just treat ourselves as numbers,” said hunger striker Anna Vargas Garcia, who also saw members from a distance through the Adapt program. “Patients cannot be treated as numbers. Behind everyone we see, there is a real life behind every Kaiser worker. This is a big part of the reason we do this.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.