OAKLAND, Calif. — Over 85,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente have voted to ratify a contract that will raise wages for all workers by 21% over four years. The contract covers nursing assistants, pharmacy and X-ray technicians, respiratory therapists, housekeepers, phlebotomists and other workers in seven states and Washington, D.C. The “yes” vote was a resounding 98.5%.
Negotiated by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, the contract includes raises of 6% in 2023 and 5% for each of the following three years, as well as a $1,500 ratification bonus. Shift differentials for the evening and night shift were increased and the contract includes job protections against outsourcing and subcontracting.
Over months of negotiations, Kaiser refused to budge on the unions’ demands. This changed after workers carried out a three-day strike in October and threatened to walk out again in November.
Over 60,000 of the workers covered by the contract live in California and are members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. The need for more staffing was a key issue raised here at rallies and on the picket lines. “There is turnover because you can’t make it on the wages, especially single mothers,” Kaiser health and wellness counselor Nam Nguyen told the Militant. The union addressed this by winning a minimum wage of $25 an hour for all job categories in California by 2026. A $23 minimum wage will be established in the other states where Kaiser operates.
The health care workers’ fight got a boost from other strikes and union fights, including national rallies by Teamsters at UPS, pickets by hotel workers and others. In the Bay Area, Kaiser workers’ picket lines during the three-day strike in October were bolstered by members of the Office and Professional Employees Local 29 and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 20 at Kaiser, who struck in solidarity with the health care workers union.
Included in the contract is an agreement by Kaiser to drop a lawsuit against the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West for carrying out a one-day strike in support of Kaiser engineers during their 90-day strike in 2021. The engineers, who are responsible for maintaining heating and cooling systems and hospital equipment, are still without a contract.