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Unionized Kaiser health-care workers in D.C. region authorize strike [1]
['Joe Heim']
Date: 2023-09-18
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Kaiser Permanente workers in the Washington region have authorized a strike if a contract agreement between the union and the California-based health-care provider consortium is not reached by Sept. 30, according to a statement Monday by the local union representing about 3,800 Kaiser employees in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight In a statement posted to its website, the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2 said 98 percent of its members voted to approve the strike and would take the action “if Kaiser Permanente does not come to the bargaining table to properly address our priorities — including staffing, patient care, and a consistent national wage increase to reward and retain our healthcare workers.”
The move follows similar strike authorizations this month by unions representing more than 80,000 Kaiser workers in California, Oregon, Washington state and Colorado. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said the action would be the largest strike by health-care workers in U.S. history.
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“We hope that there will be no work stoppage, that there will be no need to strike and that we’ll reach a resolution this week,” Caroline Lucas, the union coalition’s executive director, said in a phone interview. “But our workers are so burned out and so pushed to the brink that they’re ready to walk off for up to two weeks if that’s what it takes to get a respectful contract.”
Doctors and most nurses are not among those slated to walk out next week if a strike occurs, union leaders said. But it would include medical technicians, pharmacists, optometrists, nursing assistants and some office workers.
Lucas said Kaiser workers are overextended and underpaid, and she criticized the health-care provider’s leadership for conditions that she said have led to excessively long waits for patients for radiology appointments, mammograms and specialty surgeries.
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“Those kinds of fundamental disconnects in the way Kaiser executives are choosing to provide patient care are so egregious that our members can’t in good conscience continue to show up to execute on amazing patient care,” Lucas said.
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In a statement last week addressing its bargaining with the unions, Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest health-care providers, said the unions representing the workers had “made several claims that are misleading.” It called the strike authorizations “a disappointing action considering our progress at the bargaining table.”
According to its website, Kaiser Permanente serves about 12.7 million customers and operates 39 hospitals and 622 medical offices. The company serves about 835,000 members in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
“We take any threat to disrupt care for our members seriously and have comprehensive plans to ensure continued access to needed health care services should a strike occur later this year,” Kaiser said in its statement responding to the strike authorizations.
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“Our priority is to reach an agreement that ensures we can continue to provide market-competitive pay and outstanding benefits,” Kaiser Permanente said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post in response to OPEIU Local 2’s strike authorization vote. “We are confident we’ll reach an agreement before the national agreement expires on September 30 that strengthens our position as a best place to work and ensures that the high-quality care our members expect from us remains affordable and easy to access.”
The company also raised the question of whether workers in the D.C. region would go out on strike, saying, “In our Mid-Atlantic market, all but approximately 385 of our employees have contracts that are in effect through December 15, precluding any work stoppage prior to that date.”
Betsy Twitchell, a spokesperson for the union coalition, responded that 98 percent of OPEIU Local 2 members had voted to authorize a strike.
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The strike authorization by Kaiser Permanente workers comes during a wave of labor actions across the country. Unionized autoworkers at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis walked off their jobs and onto picket lines last week. Screenwriters, joined later by actors, have been on strike against television and film studios since May. And Teamsters earlier this summer reached a deal averting a strike against UPS.
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[1] Url:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/18/kaiser-work-stoppage-dc/
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