A coalition of eight unions representing 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente said late Saturday that is has not reached an agreement with the company, setting the stage for the largest healthcare strike in US history on Wednesday.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which has workers at hundreds of hospitals and medical offices in California, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C., said in a statement that it remains far apart with the company on important issues but still has had “good discussions with Kaiser.” The healthcare workers are seeking across-the-board pay raises and improvements to their pension plans, as well as protections against outsourcing.
The coalition’s contract with Kaiser officially expired after 11:59 pm PT on Saturday night.
I have a chronic illness and am fighting another illness. I would be fucked without healthcare, but workers deserve to be treated better. I guess if I had KP, I would be willing to suffer on their behalf. I wouldn’t die, I would just be in a lot more pain.
EDIT: Thinking on this, that might have sounded selfish. I meant to say the opposite- that patients need to be behind the workers too.
As a nurse who also suffers from a painful chronic illness, I appreciate you. We’re currently unionizing at my hospital because we’ve tried literally every single other thing we could think of - reporting detailed safety events, protesting assignments - and the hospital simply refuses to hire more staff. None of us want to strike, but the working conditions we’re currently experiencing make it impossible for us to do the right thing for our patients. None of us want to strike, but if we do so, it’s because we were left with no other option. Believe me, all we want is to be able to safely and successfully do our jobs.
Solidarity forever.