96% of UNAC/UHCP’s RNs and health care professionals voted yes
In 12 hours, 54% of eligible members had cast a vote in strike authorization as one of the industry’s best contracts expires: www.investinpatientcare.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 11, 2021
Contacts:
Jeff Rogers | jeff.rogers@unacuhcp.org | (909) 263-7230
Anjetta Thackeray | anjetta.thackeray@unacuhcp.org | (909) 455-5146
Note: Union officers and bargaining team members, nurses, and other health care professionals are available for television, radio, and print interviews.
Strike Authorized by 20,000+ Nurses and Other Health Care Workers at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California
LOS ANGELES—21,000 registered nurses, pharmacists, midwives, physical therapists, and other health care professionals represented by UNAC/UHCP voted online between October 1 and October 10 to authorize a strike at Southern California Kaiser Permanente locations.
Frontline workers and bargaining team members are available all day to talk about why they need to strike and why they’ve taken this vote.
7,000 members of United Steelworkers also voted to authorize a strike and will announce their results this morning—leading to a possible 28,000 member strong strike.
WHO: 21,000 UNAC/UHCP registered nurses, pharmacists, midwives, physical therapists and occupational therapists, optometrists, and others at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. 7,000 USW health care workers at Kaiser Permanente Southern California
WHAT: Strike Vote Announcement. UNAC/UHCP frontline RNs, other professionals, and bargaining team members available for interview.
WHEN: Monday, October 11, 2021
WHERE: Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Kern, San Bernardino Counties
One in four Californians now receive their health care from Kaiser Permanente, a health industry giant which sets standards nationally for health care quality as well as wages and benefits for the industry.
The strike would not begin immediately. The strike authorization gives the bargaining teams the option of calling a strike when they choose and for a duration to be set at that time. Unions in the health care industry are required by law to submit a ten-day notice to the employer before striking.
This strike would affect Kaiser hospitals and medical centers in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Downey, Fontana, Irvine, Los Angeles, Ontario Vineyard, Panorama City, Riverside, San Diego, West Los Angeles, and Woodland Hills, as well as numerous clinics and medical office buildings throughout Southern California.
The unions are part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which includes 21 partner unions representing 50,000 KP employees nationwide. The AHCU has been at the bargaining table with health care giant Kaiser Permanente since April. While health care workers are facing record levels of burnout after 18 months of the COVID pandemic, they continue to deal with protracted understaffing. Talks at the table center on how to recruit to fill open positions that impact patient care and service. Kaiser Permanente—sitting on $44.5 billion in reserves—wants to slash wages for new nurses and health care workers and depress wages for current workers trying to keep up with rising costs for food, housing, and other essentials.
The Kaiser Permanente health care system includes 12 million plan members, 39 hospitals and more than 700 medical office buildings. The organization has turned a $2.7 billion profit during the pandemic, maintained a $44.5 billion reserve, and continued to gain subscribers, yet top Kaiser Permanente leaders claim to be under threat from pop-up clinics and start-up apps.
Background links:
Video explaining Kaiser’s two-tier wage proposal: https://www.investinpatientcare.com/two-tier-takeaways
Side-by-side comparison of UNAC/UHCP’s contract proposals vs. KP’s: https://www.ahcunions.org/news/2021/10/4/where-we-stand-kp-and-alliance-unions-proposals-at-national-bargaining
Information on KP’s finances: https://www.investinpatientcare.com/kpfinances
Quotations and testimonials from UNAC/UHCP frontline workers: https://www.investinpatientcare.com/voices
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United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents more than 32,000 registered nurses and other health care professionals in California and Hawaii, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.