FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – As many as 4,000 mental health employees are expected to go on a five-day strike starting Monday, Dec. 16, 2016.
The strike will affect 100 Kaiser Permanente Clinics and mental health services throughout the state.
Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers said it comes after it and Kaiser filed to reach a new contract.
The union wants to shorten patient wait times, and reduce therapist caseloads.
The walkout was initially planned for mid-November but when Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson died unexpectedly, last month, the strike was postponed.
Kerri Leedy, PR and Media Relations for Kaiser Permanente Northern California said Monday that less than a dozen are striking here in Fresno.
Leedy said they released a Statement regarding NUHW’s Planned Strike December 16-20, 2019
Despite the National Union of Healthcare Workers’ (NUHW)decision to strike, it is important our members know that our hospitals and medical offices remain open. Our commitment to patients comes first. We are working hard to deliver the high-quality care and services members and patients need. Anyone in need of urgent mental health or other care will receive the services they require. Where necessary, we will call members to reschedule some non-urgent appointments. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this unnecessary strike.
We have been jointly working with an external, neutral mediator to help us reach a collective bargaining agreement with the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). The mediator recently delivered a proposed compromise to both sides that we are seriously considering; however, the union has rejected it and announced plans to strike instead of working through the mediated process.
This is NUHW’s sixth noticed strike within a single year. We believe that NUHW’s repeated call for short strikes is disruptive to patient access, operational care and service and is frankly irresponsible. Although Kaiser Permanente will make every effort to minimize patient disruption, due to the strike we may be forced to reschedule appointments and devote valuable resources needed elsewhere in our organization to instead address the continuity of care for our members and address any urgent patient care issues.
A strike does nothing to help our important work to advance care, nor does it help us achieve a mutually beneficial contract. All it does is put our members in the middle of bargaining, which is not fair to them, especially during the holidays when rates of depression can spike and our patients are counting on their caregivers to be there.
Rather than calling for a strike, we ask that NUHW’s leadership continue to engage with the mediator and Kaiser Permanente to resolve these issues.-Michelle J. Gaskill-Hames
SVP Hospital and Health Plan Operations – Northern California Kaiser Permanente
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