UPDATE: Nov. 9, 2023: More than 85,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers have a new four-year contract with the nonprofit system, after union members overwhelmingly voted to ratify a compromise reached in October following months of labor negotiations and a high-profile strike.
The contract — which covers workers across seven states and the District of Columbia and is effective through September 2027 — was ratified by a 98.5% margin, according to the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. The deal raises wages by 21% over four years and ensures a minimum wage of $25 an hour in California and $23 an hour in other states. It also creates a one-year accelerated hiring program to address staffing shortages and includes protective terms around subcontracting and outsourcing.
Oct. 13, 2023: The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and the nonprofit health system reached a “tentative agreement” on Friday morning following nearly seven months of contract negotiations. The deal comes a week after workers held a three-day strike that impacted hundreds of facilities across the country, and just four days after the unions issued a second 10-day strike notice, warning Kaiser that another strike could come in November.
Kaiser and the unions first announced the possible deal on X, formerly known as Twitter. They later confirmed the agreement in separate press releases and at a joint press conference held with Julie Su, acting U.S. Labor Secretary, who had joined the negotiations on Thursday evening.
“This [deal] is the culmination of many, many hours of bargaining by the parties,” Su said at the conference. “What they did wasn't easy, and it was historic.”
To reach the final proposed agreement — which now goes to the coalition’s 85,000 members to be ratified — the unions and Kaiser engaged in two 36-hourslong bargaining sessions, held last week and Thursday, according to Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, the largest union in the coalition. Though representatives from Kaiser and the coalition repeatedly referred to the contract negotiation as “bumpy” during the press conference, both parties were ultimately pleased with the final outcome.
“We have a long history of working with our employees unions … And yes, negotiations can get a little bit bumpy at times, but I think we've shown in the past — and I think we'll show that again — that we can come together, focus on the mission and support our employees,” said Kaiser chief human resources officer Greg Holmes during the press conference.
The deal
The tentative four-year contract includes terms to help Kaiser retain current employees and recruit future workers, including wage increases, enhancements to the employee performance sharing plan and increased investments in training and development, according to a press release from Kaiser.
Kaiser will guarantee a 21% increase in wages over four years for all coalition members in order to help better retain healthcare workers. It’s the first time that the coalition has been able to negotiate “unified consistent pay raises,” Regan said at the press conference. During the negotiations, the coalition and management consistently clashed over this approach, with Kaiser wanting to institute raises based on individual market factors. On Oct. 1, the unions said they would not budge on the matter and would only agree to a deal that offered a unified increase.
Over the next three years, minimum wages for union employees will also rise, reaching $25 an hour in California and $23 an hour in other states.
The figures reflect a compromise for the parties. Originally, the coalition had proposed a minimum wage of $25 per hour for all employees and Kaiser had countered with offering $23 an hour in California, and $21 an hour in other states, as of Sept. 30.
Steve Shields, Kaiser’s senior vice president labor relations, said the wage increases are not expected to impact consumer rates.
Additionally, Kaiser pledged to increase investments in professional development and job training to help upskill workers and better address the healthcare's staffing crisis. The coalition noted that Kaiser will also hold mass hiring events and increase training and education funding.
Ripple effects
Across the country, multiple strikes at hospitals remain underway. In California, nearly 2,000 workers are concluding a five-day strike at Prime Healthcare after citing concerns about staffing levels. In New Jersey, nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital have been on strike since August over staffing concerns.
The Kaiser coalition said in a press release that the tentative deal has set a “new potential bar” for healthcare contract negotiations, and demonstrates that management can “bargain in good faith to fix unsafe working and patient care conditions caused by the short-staffing crisis.”
Friday’s agreement was evidence that “collective bargaining works,” the labor secretary said, adding that she hopes others in the industry would follow Kaiser’s example.
“We saw healthcare workers put the country on their backs through a global pandemic and get us through. This [deal] is a really historic example of what it means to truly value them not just in words,” Su said.
